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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY 
OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 










TIBI 


STEPHANO WINKWORTH 


PRIMO MIHI ARTIS SINICAE PRAECEPTORI 
EGO 
HUNC LIBRUM DEDICO ~ 
VIDEBIS IN HOC VIRTUTES ee 
VIDEBIS VITIA mK 
HOC DEBITI MEI MONUMENTUM An 
CLEMENTER ADMITTE 
HUMILITER VOVET 
AETERNUM DEVOTUS 
ARTURUS LEIGH BOLLANDUS ASHTON 
IDIB. FEB. MDCCCCXXIV. 








Frontispiece. PLATE LIX. Wooden statue of Kuan-yin. Southern Sung dynasty. H. 48. in. 
Eumorforpoulos Collection, London. 


AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY 


mt NESE SCULPTURE 


BY 


LEIGH ASHTON 


NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS 


1924 





PREFACE 


_I have been indebted in the writing of this book primarily to my 
colleague Arthur Waley, who has translated some valuable passages from 
Omura Seigai’s book on Chinese Sculpture for me from the Japanese text. 

I should like to record my thanks to all those collectors who have allowed 
me to reproduce objects in their possession, and to the officials of the 
various museums from which I have drawn examples; I am especially 
indebted to my American colleagues for their help and assistance during 
my stay in that country. To the Musée Guimet I owe the photographs 
of the Mission Segalen here reproduced, to Mr. Oscar Raphael those of 
the life of Buddha from Yiin-kang, Dr. Osvald Sirén has allowed me to 
use two hitherto unpublished photographs of Han figures; Mr. J. Early 
Smith has lent me negatives of the Ming tombs. Miss Eleanor Chilton 
has very kindly read the proofs for me. 





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Foreword 
Introductory 
Chapter I, 


Snapter. Ii. 


Chapter IIT. 


Chapter IV. 


Chapter Vz. 


Chapter VI. 


Chapter VII. 
Chapter VIII. 
Chapter IX. 
Chapter X. 


Chapter XI, 


CONTENTS 


PART I 


ANCIENT CHINA 


From the Dark Ages to the fall of the Chou 
dynasty (255 B.C.) 


From the Ch‘in dynasty to the fall of the Han 
dynasty (220 A.D.) 


PART II 


MEDIAVAL CHINA 


Buddhism : its early history and how it reached 
China 


The Sankuo or Three Kingdoms . 
The Wei Tartar Supremacy in the North Gae-25i)) 
| 


Page 


18 


35 
42 


[i iaeas Sah oe 
Western Wei (534-550) Eastern Wei (535-557) 


The Six dynasties: (a) the four Southern (420-589) 55 


(6) the two Northern (550-581) 
The Sui dynasty (581-617) . 
The T‘ang dynasty (618-906) 
Bronze Buddhistic statuettes from 5th—1oth centuries 
Animal Sculpture from 5th-1oth centuries 
The Legacy of the Han Bas-reliefs 


The Minor Kingdoms 
The Sung dynasty (960-1280) 


The Yiian dynasty (1280-1368) 
The Ming dynasty (1368-1644) 
Vii 


63 
67 
68 


79 
86 
go 


97 
7 


103 
104 





CONTENTS 


Map of the Provinces of China with the principal Caves, etc. To face 
Appendix I. The Distribution of Cave-Sculpture in China . 

Appendix II. Forgeries and Restorations . Cy ; ) 
Bibliography . : : : ; ; | : 2 
Index... ‘ : : : RSs Mie : 


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' 4 ne ae e 
: E> 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Bronze vessel with rams’ heads. Chou dynasty . ; . Plate 
Eumorfopoulos Collection, London 


Marble Tiger’s head. Chou dynasty (¢) . . Big) Plate 
Eumorfopoulos Collection, London 

Detail from bronze drum, Chou dynasty (")  . Fig.2 Plate 
Sumitomo Collection, Osaka 

Detail from bronze vessel. Chou dynasty . : Fig. 3 Plate 
Sumitomo Collection, Osaka 


Bas-relief with design of chariots. Eastern Han dynasty 


Louvre, Paris Fig,1 Plate 


Bas-relief with historical scene. Eastern Han dynasty Fig.2 Plate 
Metropolitan Museum, New York 


Stone figure from a tomb at Teng-feng, Honan. Eastern Han 
dynasty. (In situ) . . : : ? Fig, Plate 


Stone figure from a tomb at Teng-feng, Honan. Eastern Han 
dynasty. (In situ) . : = ; : Fig, 2, ' Plate 
Terra-cotta figurine. Han dynasty . ; : Fig,3 Plate 
Rutherston Collection, Bradford 


Capital with reliefs from a pillar at P‘ing-yang, Ssechuan. 
Eastern Han dynasty. (In situ) ; : $ . Plate 


Capital with reliefs from a pillar at Chit hsien, Ssechuan. 
Eastern Han dynasty. (In situ) : : : cep late 


Group of a horse trampling on a barbarian. Wei Valley. 
Western Han dynasty, dated 119 B.c. (Insitu) . See iate 

Bronze leopard holding a tray. Eastern Han dynasty Fig.1 Plate 
Stoclet Collection, Brussels 

Jade dog, with bird on back. Western Han dynasty (¢) Fig. 2 Plate 
Rutherston Collection, Bradford 

Detail of jade axe-head. Eastern Han dynasty . Fig,1 Plate 
Eumorfopoulos Collection, London 

ix 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Bronze furniture foot. Eastern Han dynasty . Fig, 2 
Stoclet Collection, Brussels 


The Phcenix of the South; stone relief from Ssechuan. 
Eastern Han dynasty. (In situ) : : : : 


Winged tiger; stone statue from Ssechuan. Eastern Han 
dynasty. (In situ) . : ; : : : 


Avalokitesvara (from the Yiin-kang Caves). Wei Tartar 
dynasty. (In situ) . : : 2 : : : 


Avalokitesvara (from the Yiin-kang Caves). Wei Tartar 
dynasty. (In situ) . : ‘ : ’ ; 
Metropolitan Museum, New York 


Buddha meeting the sick man; reliefs from the Yitin-kang 
Caves. Wei Tartar dynasty. (In situ) ; Fig, 1 


The archery contest ; reliefs from the Yiin-kang Caves. Wei 
Tartar dynasty. (In situ) . : : ‘ Fig, 2 


Stone figure of Maitreya. Wei Tartar dynasty, c. 525 A.D. 


Metropolitan Museum, New York Fig. 1 


The departure from the city; relief from the Ytin-kang 
Caves. Wei Tartar dynasty. (In situ) Fig. 2 


Stone figure of the Bodhisattva Maitreya. Wei Tartar dynasty, 
C. 500 A.D. : : : : : Fig, 1 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 


Stone figure of the Buddha Maitreya. Wei Tartar dynasty, 
dated 516 A.D. . : Fig, 2 


Stone figure of a Bodhisattva. Wei Tartar dynasty, mid- 
6th century . : : : ; : 


Eumorfopoulos Collection, London 
Stone votive stele with Buddhist Trinity. Wei Tartar dynasty, 
dated 534 A.D. : : % ; ; : 
Metropolitan Museum, New York 
x 


+ 


Pennsylvania University Museum, Philadelphia. 


Plate 


Plate 


| Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Io 


Il 


Ia 


16 


17 


18 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Stone votive stele with Buddhistic ye Six dynasties, 
Southern (¢), 6th century . 


Cleveland Museum, ‘Ohio 


Stone figure of Avalokitesvara, Six dynasties, Southern (¢), 
6th century . ; : : ‘ : 


Freer Collection, Washington 


Marble votive stele with Buddhistic figures. Six dynasties, 
Southern, dated 559 A.D. 


Greville L. Winthrop Collection Nes York 


The Western paradise; stone relief. Six dynasties, Southern, 
and half of 6th century . > : Fig, 1 


Freer Collection, Wahineton 


The Buddha preaching; stone relief. Six dynasties, Southern, 
2nd half of 6th century . ; : : Fig, 2 


Freer Collection, Washington 


Taoist relief in stone. Northern (¢), 464 a.v. (¢) Fig, 1 
Ostasiatische Museum, Koln 


Taoist relief in stone. T'ang dynasty, dated 754 A.D. Fig. 2 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 


Stone figure of a Bodhisattva, Six dynasties, Northern, 
and half of the 6th century ‘ _ : h 


Freer Collection, Washington 


Stone figure of Maitreya. Six dynasties, Northern, and half 
of 6th century . : : : 


Freer Collection, Washingin 


Stone votive stele with Buddhistic subjects. Six dynasties, 
Northern, dated 551 A.D. 


Pennsylvania University Macca Philadelphia 


Stone figure of Avalokitesvara. Six dynasties, Northern, 
C, 570 A.D. > + - + o 2 * 
Havemeyer Collection, New York 


Xi 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate . 


Plate 


Plate 


19 


20 


ai 


22 


22 


23 


23 


24 


25 


26 


27 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Stone figure of Avalokitesvara. Six dynasties, Northern, 
C. 570 A.D. : : : : : ; ‘ Sie Piate 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 


Terra-cotta relief with Buddhistic figures. Sui dynasty (¢) . Plate 
Eumorfopoulos Collection, London 


Stone figure of Avalokitesvara T‘ang dynasty, 7th century 


Metropolitan Museum, New York ‘8-1 Plate 


Stone figure of Avalokitesvara. T‘ang dynasty, 7th century 


Louvre, Paris Fig,2 Plate 


Stone figure of Avalokitesvara. T‘ang dynasty, 7th century 
Winkworth Collection, London Fig.1 Plate 


Marble figure of Amida. T‘ang dynasty, 7th century 


Cleveland Museum, Ohio Fig.2 Plate 


Marble figure of Amida. ‘T‘ang dynasty, 8th century 


Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Fig.1 Plate 


Stone figure of Ananda (¢). T'ang dynasty, 7th-8th century 
Fig.2 Plate 


Pennsylvania University Museum, Philadelphia 


Marble figure of Amida. T‘ang dynasty, g9th-1oth century 


Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Fig.3 Plate 


Stone figures of two Bodhisattvas. ie ieee 8th 
century . . Plate 
Pen pitand vera Mice Philadelphia 


Stone figure of a Bodhisattva. T‘ang dynasty, ate 
century . . Plate 
Greville 1b Winthrop Collection, ne York 
Marble figure of Amida. T’ang dynasty, 8th-oth century Plate 
Peters Collection, New York 
xii 


28 


29 


30 


30 


sie 


31 


32 


32 


32 


33 


34 


35 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Wooden pillar with four Bodhisattvas. T‘ang teat late 
oth OAS) (¢) ‘ 
Metropolitan iplins Ned York 


Lacquered wood figure of Amida. pare ae a 
centuries 
Stoclet Cileein Basel 


Semi-Taoist divinity in stone, T’ang dynasty . Fig, 1 
Author’s Collection, London 


Stone figure of a hare, symbolical of an hour of the day. 
T’ang dynasty . ; : : Fig. 2 
Winkworth Collection, London 


Bronze statuette of Avalokitesvara. Wei Tartar dynasty, 
dated 516 A.D. . ; : : Fig, 1 
Stoclet "GAIL Braser 


Bronze group of Sakyamuni and Prabhutaratna. Wei Tartar 
dynasty, dated 519 A.D. : : Fig, 2 
Stoclet Collection, Bisa 


Bronze group of Sakyamuni and Prabhutaratna. Wei Tartar 
dynasty, dated 518 A.D... : : Fig, 1 
Peytel Collection, pret 
Bronze figure of Amida. Wei Tartar dynasty, c. 550 A.D. 
Fig, 2 
Stoclet Collection, Brussels 
Bronze figure of Avalokitesvara. Suidynasty . Fig, 1 
Stoclet Collection, Brussels 
Bronze figure of Avalokitesvara. no dynasty, 7th 
century . 7 ; Fig. 2 
Raphael Chile Sere 


Tuan Fang altar-piece. Sui dynasty ; dated 593 A.D. 


Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (a) and (6) 


Accessories from the Tuan Fang altar-piece : 
Rutherston Collection, Bradford 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


Plate 


36 


37 


38 


38 


39 


39 


40 


40 


4I 


41 


42 


43 


LIST (OPVTEDUsS TRARIEONsS 


Bronze figure of Avalokitesvara. T‘ang dynasty . Fig,1 Plate 
Metropolitan Museum, New York 


Bronze figure of Sakyamuni. T’ang dynasty . Fig. 2 Plate 
Eumorfopoulos Collection, London 


Stone pheenix from the Yiin-kang Caves. Wei Tartar dynasty Plate 


Stone winged lion from the tomb of Hsiao Hsiu. Six 
dynasties, Southern, dated 518 a.p. (Liang dynasty) . Plate 
Stone lion. Six dynasties, late 6th century (¢) . Fig,1 Plate 
Pennsylvania University Museum, Philadelphia 
Stone demon. 6thcentury  . : ; Fig.2 Plate 
Freer Collection, Woshineton 
Stone slabs sculptured with figures of horses from the 
mausoleum of Tai tsung, founder of the T'ang dynasty Plate 
Pennsylvania University Museum, Philadelphia 
Stone winged horse from the tomb of Kao tsung at Chien- 
chou, dated 683 A.D. . : ; ; : ‘ . Plate 
Bronze lion. T’ang dynasty . : Fig,1r Plate 
Eumorfopoulos Collection: anion 
Stone lion. T‘’ang dynasty . ; : ; Fig,2 Plate 
Louvre, Paris 


Stone tiger devouring a hare. T‘’ang dynasty . Fig. 3 Plate 
Louvre, Paris 
Marble lion. T’ang dynasty 


: . Plate 
Eumorfopoulos Collection, Bia: 


Tomb doorway. Wei Tartar dynasty, 6th century . . Plate 
Metropolitan Museum, New York 
Tomb doorway. T‘ang dynasty , : : o., Plate 
Metropolitan Museum, Nee York 
Lunette from a tomb doorway. gth-1oth centuries Fig.1 Plate 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 
X1V 


44 


44 


45 


45 
46 


46 


47 


48 
49 


49 


49 


me 


51 


52 


53 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Sarcophagus. Suidynasty  . , : ; Fig.2 Plate 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 

Reliefs from a Pedestal. Wei Tartar dynasty, dated 524 a.D. Plate 
Pennsylvania University Museum, Philadelphia 

Reverse of a votive stele. Wei Tartar dynasty,c. 550 A.D. . Pilate 
Pennsylvania University Museum, Philadelphia 

Votive stele, known as the Wetzel stele. Western Wei dynasty, 

dated 554 A.D. A : * : : 


: Plate 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 


Kuan-yin ; statue in wood. Northern Sung dynasty Fig.1 Plate 
Raphael Collection, London 


Kuan-yin ; statue in wood. Northern Sung dynasty Fig.2 Plate 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 


Kuan-yin ; statue in wood. Northern Sung dynasty . weLilate 
Sauphar Collection, Paris 


Kuan-yin ; statue in wood. Southern Sung dynasty Frontispiece Plate 
Eumorfopoulos Collection, London 


Kuan-yin ; statue in wood. Southern Sung dynasty . eae tate 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 


Incised slab with figure of Kuan-yin. Sung dynasty, dated 


1095 A.D. ; i ; ; Plate 
Freer Collection, Washington 
Kuan-yin ; statue in wood. Yiian dynasty : ; . Plate 
Sauphar Collection, Paris 
Warrior ; from the Ming tombs near Pekin ; Fig.1 Plate 


Elephant ; from the Ming tombs near Pekin. Fig.2 Plate 
Camel ; from the Ming tombs near Pekin . : Fig.3 Plate 


53 


34 


35 


56 


57 


57 


58 


59 


60 


61 
62 
63 


63 
63 





FOREWORD 


This book is intended to provide a background for the systematic study 
of Chinese Sculpture. For that reason I have thought it right to intro- 
duce a considerable amount of matter dealing with the purely political 
history in addition to that which concerns itself with moral, philosophical, 
or literary development. It is often of the greatest importance to be 
conversant with the political crises of the time, and I have not thought 
it irrelevant to go at some length into questions which on the surface 
may appear to have nothing whatever to do with Sculpture. The state of 
our knowledge would not permit of a detailed history of the art, nor 
would it be possible in a volume of this size. My object has been, there- 
fore, to give a brief series of notes on the development of certain aspects 
of the sculptor’s art in China, and to bring these notes into relation with 
the historical and religious developments of the country. It would be 
impossible to illustrate such a scheme except by a selection, and here I 
have endeavoured to bring together a representative series of the finest 
pieces. I have reproduced no heads of statues, of which there are a 
number in private and public collections; for, as far as possible, every one 
should make it his business to combat the degrading traffic in these works 
of art which now goes on. The disfigurement of the cave-temples in 
China is rapidly destroying any permanence of beauty. If images are to 
continue to be exported, let them be exported in their entirety. It would 
be far preferable if thieves were to remove the figures from, let us say, 
the west front of Wells Cathedral and sell them abroad, than if they were 
to knock off all the heads and do likewise. Such a procedure would raise 
a storm of indignation; but this is what is happening to-day in China. 
In my illustrations of Buddhistic sculpture I have endeavoured to exclude 
anything on which the slur of provincialism might be directed. There 
are many provincial Buddhist steles to be seen; and at their best they 
are inferior works of art. 

There has never been any appreciation in China of the sculptor’s art. 
Hardly any serious recognisance of the objects themselves was made 
before the 18th century, and even then it was probably more the associa- 
tion of history and the antiquity of inscriptions which interested the 
connoisseur. Buddhist art has received no admiration till comparatively 

XVii B 


FOREWORD 


recent times. Consequently the question of forgeries is one which, till 
the 2oth century, has not arisen. The modern practitioner is, however, 
extremely skilful (cf. App. IT). 

China is a vast country ; its history is long. The difficulty, therefore, of 
formulating rules to control the activities of different epochs is great. 
These rules can, in a sense, comprise only generalities ; for without wide 
discussion of details, accompanied by extensive reproduction of objects, 
exact definitions cannot be promulgated. And in truth there are many 
periods in which we cannot, in the state of our knowledge at present, lay 
down such definitions. In many cases of criticism personal opinion must 
to-day decide our views; and in no form of art do personal opinions 
differ so widely as in Chinese art. 


XVili 


PART I 
ANCIENT CHINA 


CORRECTIONS 


For Han-kow read Hang-chow, and for Ho k’iu-p’ing 
read Ho chii-p’ing, wherever these appear. 


ETS ti Ay 
Ne 





INTRODUCTORY 


To China there penetrated about the commencement of the Christian 
era a force, the influence of which was destined to permeate Chinese 
civilization and with the coming of a new religion sweep away the 
decadence that had beset the Middle Kingdom. The stone that Gautama 
flung into the deep pool of Eastern philosophy dispersed the ripples far 
and wide, and at first only a tiny wave lapped at the edge of China’s vast 
field. ‘But urged on by more frequent impulses the stream attained full 
_vigour and flooded the land ; and in China Buddhism succeeded in attain- 

ing what in Europe the Byzantines strove after with imperfect success, a 
great religious art. This art was expressed primarily by sculpture, and 
it must be realized at once that the keynote to Buddhist sculpture in China, 
at any rate during the earlier part of that religion’s supremacy, is not 
corporeal representation, but intense spiritual realization. Two inscrip- 
tions will illustrate this. The first on a stele in the Metropolitan Museum, 
New York, dated 534 A.D., commences with the words “‘ The Supreme is 
incorporal, but by means of images it is brought before our eyes’; the 
second, on a statue in the Pennsylvania University Museum, Philadelphia, 
contains these phrases: ‘‘ The shortage of religious teachers renders it 
necessary to spread the precepts of Buddhism by expository works. 
Sculpture is the means whereby the divine truths have been made mani- 
fest.” It is hardly before the close of the 7th century A.D. that Chinese 
sculptors were successful in treating the representation of the gods as an 
opportunity for the display of anatomical skill. 

The introduction of Buddhism into China cannot be regarded in any 
way as a single and definite incident in the annals of the Middle Kingdom, 
but it does mark in figure sculpture, at any rate, a great dividing-line 
between the Old and the New, the Ancient and the Medieval Schools. 
Of the mass of Chinese figure sculpture that we possess, by far the greater 
portion belongs to the era posterior to the introduction of Buddhism and 
is Buddhistic in character; of the pre-Buddhist era the majority of the 
relics represent animal subjects. Figure sculpture is rare, and, as far as 
we can judge, it would appear that the pre-Buddhist artists adopted a 
quite different method of treating the figure to their successors. For there 
seems to have been a comparatively undeveloped art of figure sculpture 
in China prior to the introduction of Buddhism. The deities of the early 
religion were, on the whole, not represented anthropomorphically, though 
traces of such figures are to be found in local cult-worships. Taoist 

* 1 A formula common from the 5th century onwards. 


3) 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


beliefs, though they must have provided many opportunities for the 
making of images, especially after the enrolment on their lists of the 
naturalistic divinities of village-worship, have left no trace of any such 
images of so early a date. The tombs of Emperors and nobles were 
adorned with statues; occasionally memorials were set up; architecture 
lent itself in a broad manner to reliefs and small figures. But the greater 
part of these have perished, and we are left to judge the art of sculpture in 
pre-Buddhist times in a great measure by objects of a minor character, by 
bronzes, jades, or terra-cottas. Early religion in China placed its trust 
more in the power of rites and customs handed down from time im- 
memorial than in mystical fervour, and it is not till the introduction of 
Buddhism with its wealth of historical detail of the lives of its saints and 
its enormous religious appeal that figure sculpture properly came into 
its own kingdom. It is a popular view that China produced no Buddhist 
sculptural art of its own and that what is found there is purely Indian ; 
this is an erroneous view. India provided a religion and an iconography 
with poses and dress complete, but she did not, except in the very early 
days, provide the craftsmen, and it is the skill of the Chinese craftsmen 
with their wealth of tradition inspired by the quality of Confucian 
tradition that carried Buddhist art in China far beyond the achievement 
of their Indian teachers. 

I propose, then, to divide the history of sculpture in China into two phases, 
the pre-Buddhist era, covering a period from the primitive ages down to the 
fall of the Han dynasty in 220 a.D.—for though Buddhism knocked at the 
gate of China during the 1st century A.D. its real influence only commences 
in the 3rd or 4th—and the epoch of the rise and expansion of the Buddhist 
religion. But before commencing this history it would seem suitable to 
say something about the materials in use in China and their treatment. 


MATERIALS 


By far the greatest quantity of relics was made, as is natural, of stone or 
marble. Of the various kinds used only a competent geologist can make 
an authoritative statement. In the case of Buddhistic figures the surface 
was almost invariably enriched with colours and gilding ; this system was 
never pursued in the case of funerary sculpture. The pigment to be used 
was applied either direct to the material or over a thin coating of gesso. 
Whenever the colour became too dull to satisfy the lavish taste of the 
priests for display, the paint was liable to be renewed; but the original 
schemes of decoration seem to have been reproduced. The result is that 


4 


INTRODUCTORY 


often the original pigment has been lost, except in the case of a statue that 
has been excavated or removed from a somewhat inaccessible niche.! 

During the early years of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) much of this 
repainting was done, when any of the surviving Buddhistic figures that 
could be found of early date were brought out and refurbished. Where 
the stone was of porous quality and the pigment applied direct the 
colouring matter seems to have often sunk in and stained the surface all 
over, a fact which may account for many of the brown-coloured statuettes 
that are seen, where the material has become discoloured and faded 
through time to a uniform dull-brown. 

Bronze holds the second place in the list. Gold and silver inlay are 
features of many of the early animal representations. Buddhistic statuettes 
were almost invariably gilded. The process was to soak the figure in 
cleansing acid, then heat the surface, paint it with mercury and apply 
the gilding in leaf-form. Heat was applied to volatilize the mercury once 
more and, when cool, polishing followed. 

Wood was a good deal used for Buddhistic figures, sandal-wood being 
the variety chiefly employed. Nothing, in my opinion, has survived of 
pre-T‘ang (618-916) date, and the majority of the figures are of the Sung 
period (960-1280) or later. The natural surface-tones of the wood were 
never allowed to remain and similar methods of colouring were employed 
to those used for stonework, the gesso process being especially popular. 

Iron was probably used chiefly for statues in exposed places. It is 
mentioned as a material in the list of images ordered to be destroyed under 
the edict of 845 A.D. and so must have been used prior to that, but the 
earliest dated iron images are of the year 1213 A.D., statues of four colossi.? 
Heads are in existence, however, of T’ang types. Two seated figures, 
dated 1491 A.D.,? in the Ricketts and Shannon Collection, were exhibited 
at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1915. The material was generally 
used at a later date. A head in the Horn Collection, London, bears traces 
of colouring applied over gesso, and it is probable that this was the process 
used when colouring was required. 

Clay and terra-cotta are among the earliest materials used, the tomb 
figurines being practically invariably of this material. The early Buddhist 
sculptors were fond of it, too, but after the iconoclastic persecution of 
444 A.D. its popularity lapsed, to be revived again in the mid-T‘ang period, 


1 An example of original colouring is visible on Plate 21 and frontispiece, of repainting 
on Plate 16, Fig. 2. 2 Chavannes, Mission Archéologique, etc., 1909, Plate 430. 
8 Catalogue, Plate 15, and p. 24. 


D) 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


when many painted clay Buddhistic images were made. Ivory and bone 
were used a little in early times, and occasional animal reliefs in these 
materials are met with at later dates. 

Clay especially, if used for large statues, renders them very liable to 
damage, and it is in this connection that lacquer was first used and the 
process of dry lacquer invented. Originally a small proportion of some 
vegetable fibre was introduced into the clay to strengthen it; later, mineral 
substances were added for a similar purpose. The clay model was then 
fired and lacquered, or cloths dipped in lacquer were moulded over the 
figure, which, when hardened, could be carved to a greater pitch of 
perfection. But soon a better process was evolved. A rough core was 
made, and on this the sculptor arranged cloths saturated in lacquer 
solution and modelled them to his ideas, when only half dry. When 
completely dry the rough core was cut out. Alternatively the sculptor used 
vegetable fibre, very heavily soaked in lacquer and moulded it into the form 
he required, perhaps over a crude block, working it in the same manner 
as clay. When dry an absolutely hard statue was the result, very light in 
weight and impervious to worm. In China the process was in use as 
early as the 4th century. Tai K‘uei, who was a court sculptor at Nanking 
and died in 395 a.D., made five processional images in the dry lacquer 
process for the Chao-yin ssti temple. They were afterwards kept at 
Nanking with the famous jade Buddha sent by the King of Ceylon in 
404 A.D. to the Southern Court (it was 4 ft. 2 in. high), and Ku K‘ai chih’s 
Vimalakirti in the Wa Kuan ssii temple. The greatest period of popularity 
of the process was during the T‘ang dynasty, but it fell from favour 
during the 9th century and was not revived till the Yiian (1280-1368) 
dynasty and later. The process was introduced into Japan about the 
middle of the 7th century, where it was known as Kanshitsu, and achieved 
great favour for about a hundred years, only to be supplanted by lacquered 
wood. It was much used in both countries for portrait statuary in addition 
to Buddhistic work. * | 


1 See the portrait of the priest Kwan-shin (d. 763) by Shitaku. Ill. Selected Relics, 1899, 
V, Plate 5. 

* Since writing this my attention has been called to M. Pelliot’s admirable article (Journal 
Asiatique, April-June, 1923) entitled “‘ Les statues en laque séche dans !’ancien art Chinois,” 
which contains full details of the history of the Art. 


6 


CHAPTER I 


FROM THE DARK AGES TO THE FALL 
Wigbik CHOUL,DYNASTY (255 B.C.) 


THE DARK AGES 


The history of China in the dim ages is wrapped in the mystery of 
ethnographical conjecture. One day, perhaps, excavations may reveal the 
origin of the Chinese, but hitherto it has defied certainty. One fact seems to 
be generally accepted, that the so-called aboriginals (Miao-tzii, etc.) of China 
speak a language akin to Chinese and belonging to the great Sino- Tibetan 
family of languages. We cannot therefore regard the Chinese as invaders of 
a wholly alien country. But, if we suppose the Chinese to have adopted the 
language of the people they conquered, we may accept the theory that 
proposes Turkestan as their home, and the accompanying suggestion that 
the archaic remains discovered at Anau reveal a prehistoric civilization that 
may have exercised an influence on the early ancestors of both Chinese 
and Sumerians. Such theories are at present somewhat nebulous, but 
one point of extreme importance is revealed in these traditions, and that 
is the consciousness of the perpetual ebb and flow of the roving Central 
Asian tribes, which bears such an influence on Chinese art. Through all 
the periods of Chinese history it is the surge and retreat of the Central 
Asian tribes that bring the influence of Western upheavals and the 
gradual infiltration of foreign elements. During the primitive periods it 
has often been suggested that a Pacific influence can be traced, but the 
whole trend of modern research tends to show that the Pacific culture 
is of relatively modern date, and any foreign infiltration in the early 
history of China, if any there be, comes from the Central Asian side. At 
all events from the consolidation of the Chinese Empire in 221 B.c. onwards 
it is Turkestan that stands at the gateway of Chinese art, and through that 
gateway enter the influences of foreign art centres to mix with Chinese 
indigenous ideas. For Chinese art is a great indigenous art capable of 
absorbing extraneous influences and moulding them to her own devices ; 
and the basis of this art is to be found in the historical and religious 
developments of the early civilization. 


CONSIDERATIONS OF ANTIQUITY 


Early Chinese art is a subject of the greatest difficulty. Direct evidence 
of great antiquity is found in very few instances indeed. Our knowledge 
is founded partly on literary evidence, partly on the ancient art-books, 


v) 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


partly on deduction ; and such knowledge, though of cumulative import- 
ance, is apt to be inconclusive in its application to actual objects. We do 
know the types that were prevalent in early times and, now and again, 
there appears a particular object which for various reasons seems to satisfy 
the strictest canons of criticism and which we can ascribe to an early 
period. Again, evidence of excavation, if properly safeguarded, may assist 
a fairly definite ascription. But it is an extremely difficult matter, with 
traditional shapes and designs persisting throughout the ages, with periods of 
very definite revival such as the intense desire to recapture Chou art during 
the early years of the Western Han dynasty (201 B.c.-9 A.D.), and taking 
into consideration the enormous patience and skill of the Chinese copyist 
at all epochs, to be dogmatic on questions of ascription to the earliest 
periods. But wecan from this very definite persistence of tradition gather a 
pretty clear idea of early forms of Art in China; and in that art sculpture 
has always played a part. That we know from frequent literary references. 
In the Shih-Ching or Book of the Odes, the one piece of literature which is 
indubitably as early as the Chou dynasty, there is a passage of interest of 
which I came across a pleasant translation in a little French Chinoiserie 
book by “ M, l’Abbé Pluquet, ancien professeur,”’ printed in 1783! :— 


“ Entrez dans l’attelier du f{culpteur, confidérez fon travail; il coupe 
d’abord livoire avec la fcie, il le faconne enfuite avec le cifeau, & le polit 
avec le riflard. Voyez le lapidaire ; il taille d’abord la pierre avec le poincon 
& le polit enfuite avec l’émeril; ....” 


Such were the methods used by the sculptor in Chou times, but literature 
tells us very little actually about the sculpture, and for the most part we are 
compelled to fall back on what is often more a science of modelling than 
of sculpture to give us any indication of the art in its infancy in China. 


THE EARLY CHINESE CIVILIZATION 


We first find the Chinese living on the banks of the Yellow River, a 
simple agrarian population governed by their patriarchs, their hours of 
labour devoted to the fields, their hours of ease kept for the idle times of 
the winter. Their religion and daily life went hand in hand, the traditional 
rite of natural religion being the turning of the sod. The two divinities of 
such a religion are naturally the Earth, the mother of all nature, and the 
Sun, the father. The powers of these two deities were later invested in 


1 This passage refers more to the work of the craftsman and lapidary than to that of the 
sculptor. For this criticism I am indebted to my colleague A. D. Waley. 


8 


DARK AGES TO FALL OF CHOU DYNASTY 


the formule of the Yin and the Yang, those confusing terms which crop 
up in every kind of magic practice at later periods. The two great feasts 
of the year were the Spring and the Autumn, when the tribes met together 
for the sowing and the harvest. The Spring feast was devoted to sexual 
practices, when, as M. Marcel Granet so admirably puts it, the people 
“s'unissaient avec un sentiment profond de concorde et d’immenses 
espoirs de fécondité.’”’ The Earth-cult embraced all the members of the 
family as children of the divinity, and soon the family was regarded as 
divided into two parts, one dwelling in this world, the other dwelling in 
the dim lands of “ the Yellow Sources.’’ So very rapidly the worship 
of ancestors became established, a cult which has become so deeply 
embedded in the history of China that nothing can uproot it. It is with 
this early civilization that are associated the Chinese semi-mythical heroes, 
Fu-hsi, the inventor of writing, Yao and Shun, and, more important than 
all, Yii, the founder of the Hsia dynasty. 


THE FIRST HISTORICAL PERIOD (2205-1122 B.C.) 


The Hsia dynasty (2205-1766) and its successor the Shang dynasty 
(1766-1122) are almost as obscure historically as the Patriarchal period. 
But in an epoch that lasted almost a thousand years civilization must have 
expanded. The era is still a golden age of husbandry. ‘“‘ In the sixth 
month,’” says the great Yit’s calendar, ‘‘ the peaches are boiled for pre- 
serves.” To Yii’s reign, so much admired by Confucius, is traditionally 
ascribed the introduction of pottery, and it seems likely that during the 
reign of one or other of his successors bronze was first used in China. 
Possibly during the Hsia dynasty commenced that continuous traffic in 
jade, which is such a feature in later times of the commercial relations 
between China and the Western States. Chinese criticism regards the 
importation of jade from the West as of much later date. 

From the site of the city of Yin, the ancient capital, have been recovered 
a number of small carvings in bone, which from the evidence of excavation 
and of the inscriptions on them can with safety be attributed at least to 
the Shang dynasty, Some of the animal forms reveal a stylized treatment 
already well advanced, some are more naturalistic ;| many seem to occupy 
a position midway between the stylized and the naturalistic forms. An 
interesting pair of bronze official staffs,? also ascribed to this period, are 

1 Cf, Catalogue of an Exhibition of Chinese Art, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1915, Plate 55. 


2 Tll., Omura Seigai, A History of Chinese Sculpture, 1921, (to be referred to as Omura 
throughout this book), Plate 2. A similar staff in jade is in the Freer Collection, Washington. 


g 


»LOUDY) OF CHINESESSCULP TURE 


decorated with t‘ao t'ieh (a mythical monster) heads of distinctly humanistic 
form, entirely removed from the Gorgoneion type familiar at a later date. 
An interesting literary reference is to the jade pillow shaped like a tiger, 
presented to Chou Hsin, last ruler of the Yin dynasty, by envoys from the 
Tan-chi country about 1120 B.c.; this pillow was dug up in 265 A.D. 
(Wei dynasty) and the record of its finding was set down, but unfortunately 
no description has been preserved. 


THE CHOU DYNASTY; THE FEUDAL SYSTEM 
(Iet3o59 5.5 1B.) 


With the Chou dynasty we reach firmer historical ground; and the 
Chou dynasty is important for a variety of reasons. Primarily it is the 
first era in which anything approaching a Chinese Empire is in existence. 
The State is still one among many, but the many owe allegiance to the 
one, and though the Dukes of Chou were not autocratic they exercised 
judicial and religious power over their feudal lords. It is the beginning 
of an empire, and an empire under the dominion of which there lived a 
philosopher, Confucius, whose teachings have contributed in a very large 
degree to the regularization of the Chinese civilization. 

Originally a savage tribe living in what is now the province of Shensi, 
the Chou were colonized by Pu-ku, a descendant of Hou Chi, minister 
of agriculture under the legendary Emperor Yao, with a capital at 
Pin in Kansu. In the year 1326 the Governor of Pin seceded under 
the constant attacks of the Barbarians and took up his station at Chi in 
Shensi, which he renamed Chou. By the year 1150 it was the most 
important city in the Empire, and on the death of Chou Hsin, last ruler 
of the Yin dynasty, the power left the capital Yin, and Mu Wang 
ascended the throne at Chou. The history of the Chou dynasty is that 
of all Chinese dynasties ; a period of struggle with Barbarians, a period 
of prosperity, a period of decay culminating in Barbarian supremacy. 
We have no indications as to the steps by which Chou art progressed, 
though it must have developed enormously in the passing of centuries. 
Bronze and jade provide us with the few relics we have left. It is the 
sreat age of pattern, but, though bronze-work probably reached its zenith 
during this era, few pieces have survived, and only those which satisfy 
the most rigorous canons of form and design can be ascribed to this 
epoch, 


Io 


DARK AGES TO FALL OF CHOU DYNASTY 


THE CHANGE OF RELIGION UNDER THE 
FEUDAL SYSTEM 


With the naturalistic tendencies towards which the early religion of 
China veered so strongly, it was obvious that local cults must spring up. 
Everywhere the gods of the mountains, the spirits of the valley, the wind, 
the river, were worshipped, and with these cults there doubtless grew up 
a considerable amount of mythological and heroic tradition. The fact that 
the Taoist canons later adopted a great many of these local divinities, in 
addition to their own deities, renders a separation of the old and the later 
myths an impossibility. But references can be found to be corporeal 
representation of these deities in Chinese poems. 


The old naturalistic gods of the state of Ch‘u were well known, and at 
Feng-hui the Earth was worshipped in the form of a woman in Han 
times. What these early statues were like it is difficult to say, but in all 
probability a somewhat rough form of body was all that would be attempted. 
Occasionally the village craftsman may have exercised more cunning than 
usual, but it is unlikely that these provincial deities attained much grandeur. 
As the feudal system progressed these local cults tended to be suppressed, 
and the whole religious system centred on the worship of Heaven. The 
worship of Heaven was consecrated to the Emperor, in whose person as 
the son of Heaven was invested the principle of Virtue. It is on this 
principle that hangs the whole system of the early Chinese rites. The 
virtue of the heavens is indisputable ; therefore the virtue of the Emperor 
may equally be relied upon. But in this Heaven-worship only symbolic 
images were used. It is possible that Hou Chi, the Harvest God, was 
worshipped in corporeal form. 


CONFUCIUS 


In the year 551 B.c. there was born, in a little village in Shantung, Con- 
fucius. He passed the early part of his life visiting the various courts of 
China and endeavouring to convert them to his beliefs, but it was not till 
he settled in the Kingdom of Wei that he was enabled to perfect his system 
and institute it; this he accomplished in 495 B.c. Humanity is the key- 
note to Confucius’ beliefs; the duty of man towards his neighbour, his 
city, his country, are the principles stressed by the sage. Confucius did 
not institute a religion, he formed a code. This code is based to a certain 
extent on the early Chinese rites, the ceremonials of which were prescribed 


Il 


STUDY OF CHINESEVSCULBR PURE 


and legalized for the first time in the Chou dynasty. And it is these 
prescribed ceremonials that form the basis of all the Chinese love of 
“ antique tradition,’’ so important in the history of their art. Ever since 
the remote ages the rites for family and tribal gatherings had been formu- 
lating themselves. Founded on the devotion of the people for their rulers, 
upon the respect of the young for their elders, the Chinese state has built 
up for itself that tower of precedent and tradition which has weathered 
the storms of history to the present day. In the same manner the forms 
of the ritual vessels have developed, and the “‘ antique tradition’’ has 
handed them on from generation to generation. 

It is this ceremonial observance that underlies Confucius’ great philos- 
ophy, a philosophy as sound and practical as it is remote from the 
supernatural. For Confucius’ influence was directed to everyday problems, 
on the principle that man must set his earthly house in order or else he 
can have no time for considering the problems of life and death. By his 
own personal life and sayings the sage turned men’s thoughts to a sober 
and rational view of these mysteries, which is unusual, when one con- 
siders the age in which he lived ; for Confucius was an agnostic. “‘ When 
life on earth is so difficult, how can we understand aught of the super- 
natural ¢’’ was one of his sayings, Ata time when morals and customs had 
lapsed into freedom and licence Confucius inculcated a severe and rigid 
doctrine, the practical application and development of which was to form 
the background of a system of government that has lasted 2500 years. 


LAO-TZU 


Lao-tzii was born in c. 570 B.C. and passed a mysterious life, partly in the 
South in the State of Ch‘u, partly in wanderings! in Central Asia. The 
doctrine that he preached is directly controversial to that of Confucius, 
being a mystic philosophy of Nature. “‘ Tao” is the primordial power 
from which all things in nature have their being; this power later was 
identified as a divinity in T‘ien tsun, the Lord of Heaven. Lao-tzit’s 
mystic philosophy rapidly degenerated into a widespread code of magical 
practices and superstitions, and it was in this interpretation of its tenets 
that its great popularity lay. In the South, where Taoism has always been 
held in especial favour, the more luxurious climate and the beautiful 
scenery seem to have tended towards a riper civilization, a more artistic 
mode of life than in the cold and barbarous North; and here seems to 
have developed a school of naturalistic animal sculpture from quite early 


1 These wanderings, however, can scarcely be regarded as historical. 
I2 


DARK AGES TO FALL OF CHOU DYNASTY 


times, such as is to be seen on the great bronze drums (cf. the Sumitomo 
drum, 1921 Catalogue, Fig. 130) which are always associated with the 
South. It is possibly to the symbolic interpretation of Taoism that some 
of the development of early sculpture is to be owed; for under the 
Confucian régime individual invention had to conform to the traditions 
of ceremony and the outlet of imagination was limited. But it is under 
the zgis of Confucianism that the magnificence of the early animal repre- 
sentation grew to its height ; and though the convention of fixed customs 
controlled the inspiration, the primitive force of the designer still found 
the outlet his skill demanded. Taoism and Confucianism unite in one 
thing, in upholding the great domestic cult, the worship of Ancestors. 


EARLY FUNERARY ART 


From the earliest times the Chinese have been accustomed to place in 
their graves objects of beauty and rarity to help the dead on his new 
journey of life. It is the natural expression of savage races in their desire 
to assist the dead that fosters these customs. It is not till Chou times 
that this custom of interring valuables was entirely given up and substitutes 
of base material used instead. ‘These substitutes, known as ming-ch'i, 
were made in great quantities, and it is in this connection that human 
figures in straw and clay were first used. The domestic objects were 
always made incomplete, as it was thought inhuman to regard the dead 
as wholly dead and equally impossible to regard them as entirely alive. 
Confucius said, ‘* Those who make ming-ch‘i understand how to mourn. 
Every object is supplied but none is usable.”’! He also disapproved of 
the use of wooden and clay figures with jointed limbs (yung), some of 
which have survived, as he considered them too human and the ceremony 
of their burial too much like immolation. For it must be remembered 
that till quite late in Chou times people and animals were buried alive in 
the tombs of important people. Wu, prince of Ch‘in, who died in 677 B.c., 
had sixty-six people buried with him. 

Confucius disapproved of this immolation, and it was perhaps as the result 
of his intervention that the custom of making potteryimages became common, 
and we find that in the case of important personages, in whose tombs the 
rare animals they had possessed in life would have been walled up, stone 
figures of these beasts were placed on or in front of the tomb, while their 
faithful servants, who in former days would have immolated themselves, 


1 Li Chi, Couvreur’s translation, p. 208. 


13 


STUDY. OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


now appeared in effigy instead. So gradually the avenues of men and 
beasts so common in later times became customary. ‘‘ The tomb” of 
Ling, prince of Ch'in (c. 610 B.c.), was “* gorgeous and imposing. Gibbons, 
hounds and torch-bearers in stone were placed at the four corners, 
and besides these were over forty statues of men and women at the 
court.””? “ Chung shan-fu was a subject of Prince Hsiian of the Chou 
dynasty (d. 782 B.c.). His tomb was in Shantung, To the west of it was 
an ancestral hall. During the Wei Tartar dynasty broken figures of rams 
and tigers were visible.’’? A later belief with regard to stone animals seems 
to have been that they were intended to frighten away the evil spirits, who 
feed on the flesh of the dead.® 

It is a generally accepted fact that the ancestral tablet is the lineal 
descendant of an actual image. Two of supposed Han date are reproduced 
in the Chin Shih So, and the Viceroy Tuan Fang is said to have had several 
in his collection. It is possible that these images are referred to by Sung 
Yi, the Ch‘u poet, in his Summons to the Soul :— 


“* Your image is set up in your house ; 
All is clean, roomy and quiet.” 


Alternatively the people of Ch‘u buried their dead in stone coffins on 
which the figure of the deceased was carved, and it may be to this that 
the poet refers. A curious instance of image-worship is recorded in that 
the King of Yiteh, on the death of his favourite minister Fan Li,’ set up a 
statue of him, which was regarded as that of a god. 

The ming ch‘t of the Chou period, of which a few have been cxeavatan 
are of the rudest description; rough clay models, unskilfully modelled 
and badly fired. It is in the smaller objects and in the decorative portions 
of such bronzes as conform to historic type that alone we can judge the 
primitive style; and it must be stated at once that our knowledge of 
figure sculpture in these early periods is negligible. It is with animal 
forms solely that we can deal. 


CHARACTERISTICS OF EARLY ANIMAL REPRESENTATION 


The style of decoration prevalent in the bronze and jade work of early 
China seems to be connected with that prevalent among the barbarian 


1 De Groot. Religious System of China, Vol. II, 1894, p. 811, translating from the 
Miscellanies of the Western Capital. 

* Chavannes, Mémoires historiques, I, 277. 3 Yu Yang Tsa Tsu (9th century). 

4 Sung Shu 17. 


14 


ee ee 


Pan eeAGES LO FALL OF CHOU DYNASTY 


tribes of S. Asia. Broadly speaking, animal motives form the main theme 
of this decoration, and it is a common feature in both arts for the animal 
forms, which have progressed from naturalistic to stylized types, to be 
reduced to a minimum and for masks to form the central theme. 

Rostovtzev points out the resemblance between the complex animals, 
the purely symbolical beasts, that are to be found in both Chinese and 
Scythian art of an early date, and the similar forms in existence in Assyrian 
art. He suggests that the art of the Sumerian age may be paralleled in the 
remote artistic activity of China, and deduces a common origin for both 
centres in some forgotten Central Asian civilization. Possibly that of 
Anau, mentioned above, may supply the link. To me it seems probable 
that these forms developed separately in the two countries, and that their 
close connection may be the result of coincidence rather than of any 
international influence. For commercial activity was practically non- 
existent even in Chou times—the jade-industry seems to have been 
confined to the home market—and it is not till the Han dynasty (201 B.c-. 
220 A.D.) that it assumes sufficient importance to warrant the assessment 
of any particular foreign influx. 

In early Chinese art design formed a combination of two styles, the 
animal and the geometric, and the animal motives occur in two forms, 
the naturalistic and the stylized. The stylized form is the most common ; 
for early Chinese art is characterized by its superb sense of pattern, and to 
meet the exigencies of this pattern the drawing is often reduced to a 
minimum, nature has to conform to design. The naturalistic form may 
have preceded the stylized, as it did at Babylon; but there is very little 
evidence to support a definitive statement.' At all events it can be assumed 
that both existed in early times. A magnificent example of the naturalistic 
style is to be seen in a bronze from the Eumorfopoulos Collection (Plate 1). 
The rams’ heads, modelled in the round, lack any sign of tentative experi- 
ment; bold and true they stand out from the bronze, satisfying in their 
directness and simplicity. Nothing could pay greater tribute to the early 
modellers than the archaic perfection of their plastic realization. The 
shape of the bronze is notably strong, and the subdued simplicity of the 
geometric design, here a plain scale pattern, tends to concentrate the eye 
on the achievement of the rams’ heads. A theory has been expressed to 


1 Even the bone animals of the Shang dynasty have already advanced far along the path 
from primitive inspiration. It is not certain that we possess any really primitive Chinese 
work of art. A tortoise in the Carmichael Collection seems to me to be possibly a very early 
Chinese carving in the naturalistic style, but I should hesitate to make a definitive statement. 


15 C 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


me that this bronze is an archaistic example of the Han period. This 
theory I cannot accept. There seems to me nothing in the feeling or 
design to warrant a late or archaistic attribution ; the design is Chou, and 
the force of archaic art is present in the execution. The bronze is one of 
the few pieces which I unhesitatingly place in the pre-Han era. The 
stylized form is represented by a piece of carving, which, if it is of Chou 
date and it may tentatively be ascribed to that era, is possibly unique in 
that here we have a piece of stonework of the period (Plate 2, Fig. 1). 
Carved in marble, its purpose is somewhat difficult to define. It is unlikely 
to be architectural as it is carved on all sides and underneath. Possibly 
it supported a pillow, possibly it was an animal carved for a tomb. What- 
ever its object, its interest is great. Here is translated into the round the 
style so prevalent in the animal-mask decoration of bronze-work. The 
tiger’s head is flattened to the ground, his claws dug into the earth; his 
ears tucked back, his gleaming teeth, express the embodiment of ferocity. 
His lines are treated in the true angular manner of stylized art; the ears 
are triangular, the paws geometric curves, the whole form compressed 
into a decorative design. If we accept the possibility of a Chou date, 
here is evidence of the employment of stylized art in sculpture in the 
round, 

Further evidence may be instanced in the small jade figures! of courtiers 
of somewhat indeterminate date, the type of which probably goes back to 
early times. Here stylization reaches its most complete form. The 
human body is reduced to a system of triangles ; a few strokes suffice to 
give the outline of the body, another few the head. The result is as far 
removed from nature as possible, but in their complete control of design 
these little statuettes attain by the easiest methods the idea stylization 
strives after, a momentary impression of a human being, the fleeting 
vision of an old man, vignetted for us by the simplest means and by that 
very simplicity entirely effective. 


THE GEOMETRIC STYLE 


The geometric decoration on the early bronzes is only of secondary 
importance. But the forms it takes, the complicated designs into which 
it is bent, open out a tempting side-issue in Chinese archeology. Many 
have remarked on the similarities between the pattern forms in China and 
ancient America. The theory of the distribution of these distorted forms 


1 Cf. Pope-Hennesey: Early Chinese Jades, 1923, Plate 62. 
16 


DARK AGES TO FALL OF CHOU DYNASTY 


has led to no definite conclusion, because no ethnographical evidence is 
forthcoming at present to prove from which side of the Pacific the forms 
originated. ‘The enormous advance in recent years in the study of the 
Mayan language leads one to conclude that the American civilization is 
younger than the Chinese. In this case possibly Chinese forms spread 
southwards, or the similarity may be a case of individual development of 
racially similar aboriginals ; for modern theories tend to establish that 
America and Asia were originally one continent. I have chosen to illus- 
trate two portions of designs from bronzes of reputed Chou date in the 
great Sumitomo Collection at Osaka. The first of these, a portion of a 
great drum (Plate 2, Fig. 2), carried one’s mind at once to the reliefs at 
Piedras Negras ;! the pattern is almost identical, the mask startling in the 
similarity of feature, the wide open mouth, the staring eye, the ovoid 
head. The other detail (Plate 2, Fig. 3), a portion of a strange vessel 
representing a man suckled by a tiger, opens great possibility of conjecture ; 
the head, which one concludes represents a typical inhabitant of China 
in Chou times, offers a startling resemblance to many of the heads on 
ancient American pottery. The subject is of far too divergent an issue 
to be discussed here, but is of such absorbant interest that its introduction 
- requires no apology. 


1 Roger Fry, Vision and Design, 1920, frontispiece. 


17] 


CHAPTER II 


FROM THE CH‘IN DYNASTY TO THE 
FALL OF THE HAN DYNASTY (A.D. 220) 


THE FIRST CHINESE EMPIRE; THE CH‘IN DYNASTY 
(221-210 B.C..)* 


The removal of the capital from Shensi to Lo yang in Honan for fear of 
barbarian invasion exposed the Chou kingdom to internal dissension. 
The vassal lords were quick to realize that this migration was a confession 
of weakness; two states emerged from the level of subordinate princi- 
palities, the Ch‘in in the North, the Ch‘u in the South. Finally Wang- 
ching, prince of Ch‘in, subdued his rival and founded the Ch‘in dynasty 
with capital at Hsien-yang near Sian-fu in Shensi. The new Emperor 
was in every sense an emperor. A military despot, he welded the prince- 
doms into a consolidated empire and ruled them with an iron and savage 
discipline. He left China a great nation, and he built the Great Wall. 
This colossal monument to the memory of the first Cesar of the East 
was erected to establish a guard against the Hsiung-nu, a Tartar horde 
that was a source of perpetual embarrassment to a peaceful existence. 
Shih Huang-ti, for that was the title he assumed, hated the feudal system, 
which he had shaken off, and to mark his unbounded appreciation of his 
own personal achievements he ordered all records of previous dynasties 
to be burnt. But the system of Confucius was too deeply imbedded to 
be destroyed by this ruthless edict, and loving disciples preserved, either 
in secret hiding-places or in the store-rooms of their brains, the sacred 
precepts. 

Like so many famous militarists Shih Huang-ti was passionately devoted 
to architecture. Everything that appealed to him in the states he con- 
quered he had reproduced in his capital. He built seven hundred palaces 
to act as hostels for himself and his staff, when he travelled through the 
land, and at one period he journeyed by sea from Chekiang to Chefoo 
and wherever he landed set up monuments in stone commemorating the 
event. So far as is at present known none of these has been identified as 
existing. It seems possible, however, that there may exist in Ssechuan a 
stone monument of this period, but it is not recorded anywhere. Li Ping, 
Governor of Ssechuan, seeing that the flooded river at Ch‘ien-shan was 
causing great havoc among the huts and crops of the poor people, instructed 


1 The Ch‘in kingdom had been powerful from some 70 years before ; these are the dates 
when it controlled the whole Chinese world. 


18 





CH‘IN DYNASTY TO FALL OF HAN DYNASTY 


his sons to set up three stone men and five buffaloes (hsi) to dam the river 
and curb the power of the water-demons, They are alluded to in one of 
the poems of Tu fu, the T‘ang poet :— 


Do you not see 
That in Ch‘in times the Governor of Ssechuan 
Carved stone and set up three hsi-bulls? 
From old times men have practised river-exorcism, 
Yet heaven sends the rain-water flowing for ever to the East. 


The General Topography of Ssechuan (Ch. 5 and 6) states that one 
of these stone bulls is set up in Stone Bull Temple Street, in front 
of the Buddha Hall of the Sheng-shou temple at Chéng-tu, capital 
of Ssechuan; another is said to be in the middle of the river Min 
at Kuan-hsien. 

Possibly the most famous of the monuments set up by Shih Huang-ti 
was the set of statues made on the occasion of the appearance of twelve 
giants at Lin-t‘ao in Ssechuan in 221 B.c. These monsters were said to 
be 50 ft. high and clothed in barbarian garments. It was because of their 
appearance that the Emperor collected all the weapons and bronzes 
throughout the kingdom and melted them into twelve colossal statues of 
the giants and bell-frames in the shape of monsters with stags’ heads and 
dragons’ bodies. During the Western Han dynasty these were removed 
to the Ch‘ang Lo Palace; frequent references are found to them in Han 
literature. In 192 A.D., when the usurper Tung Cho melted all the 
metal-work in the kingdom to make coins, ten of the statues were destroyed, 
but the remaining two he set up inside the Ch‘ing ming gate at Ch‘ang-an. 
In 237 A.D. the Emperor Ming-ti tried to remove them to Lo-yang, but 
they stuck near Pa-ling and no one could shift them. In 384 a.p. the 
Emperor Fu ch‘ien tried to remove them again, but was unable to do so; 
so he melted one and coined the metal. The other was seized by the local 
people and pushed into the Yellow River. These statues with their 
strange, fictitious inspiration were obviously totally untypical of Chinese 
art, and one of my colleagues has made the illuminating suggestion 
that they may have been some echo of Hellenistic or Iranian colossi, of 
which rumour may have reached Shih Huang-ti, who immediately desired 
to rival them. It is possible that the art of the Ch‘in dynasty exercised 
a great influence on that of the succeeding dynasties. It is obvious that 
there must have been some force at work to change the style of Chinese 
art so visibly. The beauty of Ch‘in jades and bronzes was highly praised 


19 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


by Sung connoisseurs, but the state of our knowledge does not warrant 
anything more than a conjectural statement at present. A distinctive 
series of animals of extreme natural grace has been assigned to this period ; 
partly from the evidence of objects found with them, partly, I think, 
because they are so different from other Chinese things, and so it is best 
to ascribe them to a period of which we know nothing. They are all of 
silver-plated metal, all have rectangular stands of, for Chinese art, unusual 
form, and are remarkable for their natural grace. The finest examples are 
a horse, now loaned to the Metropolitan Museum, New York, a cow in the 
Eumorfopoulos Collection, and a rabbit recently to be seen in Paris, I 
do not think we have at present any evidence by which to date this group. 
They may belong to the Ch‘in dynasty; if so, animal representation 
receded later.! 

The Ch‘in dynasty died with its founder and the Hsiung-nu once 
more ravaged the country till the appearance of Liu Pang, a remarkable 
combination of diplomat and general, who once more united the 
Empire and founded the Han dynasty. 


THE WESTERN HAN DYNASTY (B.C. 201-9 A.D.) 


China under the Han dynasty was a progressive country, and though 
the first emperors strove hard to revive Ghou culture—they did in fact 
re-establish the feudal system—the expansion of the Empire blocked their 
aims. The great conquests of foreign countries and the perpetual contact 
with new influences brought a wealth of fresh ideals, and in place of the 
barbaric but indigenous culture of Chou times a full-blooded and cosmo- 
politan civilization is substituted. The Emperor Wu ti (140-87 B.c.) 
was a great soldier. Having subdued the South and the East he turned 
his thoughts towards Central Asia, where the Hsiung-nu were supreme, 
having driven out the Yiieh-chih, with whom may perhaps be associated 
the legendary Queen of the West, to visit whom the Chou Emperor Mu 
Wang journeyed westward. With this end in view Wu ti sent his 
envoy Chang ch‘ien to spy out the land. Chang ch‘ien suffered many 
adventures and eventually returned after fourteen years’ absence, having 
concluded an alliance with the Yiieh-chih. It is remarkable that 
Chang ch‘ien in his history of his travels does not mention Buddhism ; 
so we may reasonably conclude that Buddhism had not penetrated to 

1 Since writing this M. Wannieck’s remarkable find of Ch‘in bronzes has reached Europe. 


On some of these are small figures of animals, modelled in the round, of delicate natural- 
istic forms comparable to those here mentioned. 


20 


CH‘IN DYNASTY TO FALL OF HAN DYNASTY 


Central Asia by 130 B.c. Wu Ti decided to prosecute his campaign, which 
achieved a complete success under the guidance of the young general 
Ho K*iu-ping who died in the hour of victory and was buried in a superb 
mausoleum in the Wei Valley (see Plate 7). The most important feature 
of this period is the contact effected with the Yiieh-chih, who later were 
responsible probably both for the introduction of Buddhism and, through 
their ancestry and traditions, of Hellenistic influences. 

The civil policy of the western Han emperors was tyrannous. 

Wu ti was a Socialist and an anti-noble. He and his successors replaced 
officials of the old families by men chosen from the people ; insubordination 
they suppressed by a rigorous system of terrorization. In 9 A.D. the 
discontent came to a head, and in the interregnum that followed the 
foreign Empire was lost. 


THE EASTERN HAN DYNASTY (A.D. 25-220 A.D.) 


Liu Hsiu reformed the kingdom and in ten years had united the Chinese 
states, but it was not till 94 A.D. that the general Pan chao succeeded in 
regaining the Central Asian countries. Truth to tell, though not adverse 
to the protection of the Chinese armies, these states were not at all willing 
to accept the Chinese civilization which their conquerors forced down 
their throats. These differences resulted in perpetual friction, but the 
constant contact with Central Asian ideas introduced Greek, Iranian, 
Scythian, Mesopotamian ideas to China, and these influences are very 
visible in Han art. During the and century A.D. the country fell into a 
‘state of extreme decadence, which culminated in a wild peasant revolt 
organized by Taoists. The military suppressed the revolt, only to seize 
the power themselves, and under a succession of dictators the Han Empire 
came to an end. 

The essential difference between Han and Chou art lies in the change 
that has passed over the political situation. If Chou art bears any trace 
of foreign influences, which is doubtful, these are due to inborn racial 
connections ; on the contrary, the foreign influences in Han art are the 
direct result of territorial expansion and commercial activity. The Han 
dynasty is regarded as the great historical dynasty and the title of Son of 
Han is a term of great respect. The Han period is the first epoch in 
which China was regarded as the paramount state in Asia, and this 
alone would have sufficed to denote a wide extension of the sphere of 
her art. 


ai 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


HAN SCULPTURE 
(1) THE BAS-RELIEFS OF THE FUNERARY ART 


The Han dynasty is the first dynasty of which we possess a considerable 
quantity of relics in stone ; and of these relics the most characteristic and 
original are contained in the series of bas-reliefs found in tombs of the 
period. The funerary art of the Han dynasty has left us a group 
of pictorial reliefs, which, though they vary considerably both in quality 
and execution, must at a mere casual inspection convince one that here is 
a finished and skilled form of art and not, as might be expected, an art in 
a rudimentary or even a transitional stage. But it strikes one nevertheless 
as a conventional, indeed, almost a stereotyped production. The main 
group of these reliefs is to be found in the Wu Liang cemetery in Shan- 
tung and consists of two series, one bearing an inscription recording a 
visit to that tomb in 129 A.D., the second recording the carving from 
147-149 A.D. 

There are five sections into which Han funerary art may be conveniently 
divided :— , 

(a) Mortuary chambers. 

(6) Stone vaults sheltering coffins. 

(c) Sarcophagi. 

(d) Pillars in front of tombs. 

(e) Statues erected on or in front of tombs. 


Of these types (a), (6), and (c) are concerned with bas-relief, (d) in a 
lesser proportion, and of these (6) is by far the most important. These 
vaults are built of stones cut to the form required and decorated with 
mythical and historical scenes in relief. It is a generally accepted fact 
that these reliefs were based on paintings, and it seems clear that many 
of these paintings existed in the form of frescoes. Even as early as Chou 
times the palaces were decorated with frescoes, for when Confucius came 
to the Chou Court he saw there a wall decorated with figures of Good 
and Evil, and another with a scene of a Court of Justice. Bushell referred 
the passage to sculpture, but a fresco is much more probable. The palaces 
of the Han period were famous and, though most of them were destroyed 
in the inter-Han rebellion, literary references provide us with descriptions. 
The Ling-Kuang palace is described in a poem by Wang yen-shou, written 
in 140 B.c. The details of the frescoes follow almost line for line the 

1 Kia Yu (Ch. 3). 
22 


CH‘IN DYNASTY TO FALL OF HAN DYNASTY 


scenes on the Wu reliefs, and when we bear in mind that the site of this 
palace was about 16 miles away from the Wu cemetery, the connection 
between reliefs and painting seems definitive. The details of architecture 
in the poem! are interesting :— 
“ On the curved mouldings, on the square panels, lotuses stand upright ; 

All breathe elegance and beauty. The buds are bursting into flower, 

The green poppies with broken heads droop the white jewels of their flowers. 

Birds in flight and beasts take on the form of the wood. 


A tiger is bounding to catch its prey ; he is carved to the life, 
The hairs on his back bristle.” 


This form of fresco seems to have been prevalent in other parts of China. 
Ch‘u Yitian, when resting among the ancient tombs of Ch‘u, saw there 
depicted the same sort of scenes. It is my personal opinion that the form 
of relief based on fresco may have been used as early as the Chou period, 
and that excavations in the imperial Chou tombs might quite easily reveal 
examples of a similar though more primitive character. 

These reliefs are to be found in three variant forms :— 


(a) In which the outlines of figures, etc., are incised on a plain ground. 
Here the outlines are drawn on the stone and the designs cut with 
broad slanting strokes of the chisel, so that the actual line is heightened 
by a deep bevelling, which is graded from the inner surface up to 
the defining edge of the design. This is the simplest type, and from 
the fact that the earlier series of the Wu Liang reliefs is executed in 
this manner it has been concluded that this is a more primitive 
type. There is no convincing evidence for this, and in my opinion 
this form was possibly used for the less conspicuous portions of the 
tomb, or in the case of poorer persons, who could not afford the more 
expensive processes. 


(6) In which the shape of the figures is cut away leaving a smooth surface, 
the raised background being roughened to afford contrast, or vice 
versa, the background is cut away and roughened leaving the smooth 
figures in relief. This type is the commonest and is employed in the 
main Wu series. I think it possible that in this second case the 
roughened backgrounds may have been filled in with gesso, which 
would throw the design into greater prominence. This method 
may also have been used in the Wei Tartar and T‘ang bas-reliefs 


1 Tr. from Chavannes. The greater part of this poem is translated by A. Waley in The 
Temple (1923), p- 95: 
23 


STUDY. OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


where traces of the gesso seem occasionally visible. But in these 
cases the designs are so much more diffuse that the gesso filling is 
more necessary, and it may well have been that this idea was a later 
development. 


(c) In which the whole design is carved in low relief raised from } to an 
inch from the surface and all is roughened. This type was often 
employed in outdoor work, such as the stones of which the pillars 
in front of tombs are composed. This form has been thought to be 
the most advanced and the latest in date, but I can see no evidence 
to support this conjecture. 


Types (6) and (c) are illustrated by two reliefs (Plate 3), the first decorated 
with a typical scene of chariots and horsemen, admirable in the vitality of 
movement, the second representing the reception of the Emperor Mu 
Wang by the mythical Queen of the West. 

The poorer people, as a rule, were content with either a coffin or a vault ; 
it was only the rich who could afford the complete series with pillars and 
animals in addition. We read on the pillars in front of the Wu tombs 
that the sculptor Li-ti mao, surnamed Meng-fu, made the pillars at a cost 
of 150,000 pieces of money, and that Sui-tsung carved the lions for 40,000. 
Devotion was a costly affair for the heir in those days, but then there 
were no death-duties. Even so the prodigality of funeral rites in Han 
times was a proverb, and in 278 a.D. Wu, Emperor of Ch‘in, was forced 
to forbid anyone below the rank of magnate to cause animals to be set 
up before his tomb. 

There is a simplicity about the Han reliefs that is very attractive. Despite 
obvious crudities—their portrayal of sentiment is infantile—much of the 
drawing is irreproachable ; the great design of the bridge-fight in the Wu 
series is masterly.2. But certain conventionalities strike one. The heads 
of the figures are represented at the same level, though rank is differentiated ; 
the servant is smaller than his master. Little tricks of technique, the 
labels, the traditional rendering of scenes, all point to the ready-made 
model. The pelican in her piety? must have been the watchword of the 
Han workshops. One is forced to the conclusion that the reliefs are the 


1 The whole question of these reliefs has been exhaustively discussed in Chavannes’ 


La Sculpture sur pierre en Chine dans les temps des deux Han, 1893, and by Sekino, Kokka, 
Nos, 225-33- ; 

2 Til. Chavannes, La Sculpture sur pierre en Chine, Plate 13. 

3 For this motto of the English sculptor Bacon, see Beresford Chancellor’s Lives of the 
British Sculptors, 1911, p. 205. Roe 


24 


CH‘IN DYNASTY TO FALL OF HAN DYNASTY 


output of artisans working on fixed designs; one wonders whether they 
did not even have factories for mass production, and one realizes that, 
though primitive in execution, it is a decadent rather than an archaic 
form of art. 

The type of figure-representation bears out that of the surviving pieces 
of sculpture in the round. With this in view the theory must be postulated 
that as far as can be gathered from our knowledge at present pre-Buddhist 
figure-sculpture in the round is concerned in the main with the silhouette, 
that body and dress are treated as one entity, and that any idea of drapery 
is rudimentary in the extreme. The Han sculptor seems to have concen- 
trated his skill on a graceful outline with which he combined, when 
required, a fair knowledge of modelling in the exposed portion of the figure 
such as the face. 


HAN SCULPTURE 
(2) FIGURE SCULPTURE IN THE ROUND 


The relics left are concerned mainly with funerary art and comprise a 
few sculptural groups, much damaged, on the pillars in front of tombs 
in Ssechuan, which are all either dated in the Han dynasty or from their 
similarity may be safely ascribed to the era, a few examples of figures 
before tombs, such as the dilapidated statue at Chu fu in Shantung (dated 
170 A.D.), and two more perfect at T’eng feng in Honan (Plate 4), and 
some rough pottery tomb figures, to which group I propose to add a finer 
type, which is generally ascribed to the Wei Tartar dynasty (Plate 4, Fig. 1). 
This type seems to me in style and feeling to owe its origin to Han rather 
than to Wei Tartar art. A number were found some years ago! in 
tombs, which from the type of bronze vessel found at the same time were 
more likely to be dated in the Han dynasty than later, and though many 
of these figures may be dated in the Wei Tartar period, the original model 
is concerned with Han formulz, and it is with that period that I think it 
should be associated. There is a tendency to describe anything likely to 
be earlier than T‘ang as Wei. A jade figure of this type in the Freer 
Collection at Washington shows parallels of cutting with the figure of a 
courtier in the Raphael Collection mentioned below, and though rougher 
and less perfectly executed is of importance as showing that figurines of 
this form were not confined to terra-cotta examples.2 The figure here 


1 Kokka, No. 241. 
2 Though these figures were cast in moulds, I think it is possible that the faces were 
sometimes finished by hand. 


25 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


represented wears the Han court dress and has the hair dressed in the 
Han manner (cf. the figures on Plate 3, Fig. 2); the graceful outlines, 
the considerable strength of modelling in the face, and the very slight 
indications of drapery are typical of Han art, as represented in the reliefs. 

The two figures from the tomb of T‘ai-chi (Plate 4, Figs. 2 and 3) 
admirably display the fact that in the Han period, and consequently 
probably in all periods prior to that, the statues erected at tombs were of 
the crudest description, rough-hewn blocks of stone with coarse features 
and slight indications of drapery. The figures rest their hands upon 
swords, as do so many of the later figures, and are chiefly remarkable for 
once more displaying the Han type of mass entity. They can be safely 
dated by the type of relief on the pillars by the tomb. 

That the form of mass entity was used in figures of greater refinement 
can be seen in a jade statuette of a courtier in the Raphael Collection? and 
from the slender evidence of such statuettes as these it does seem likely 
that no conscientious attempt at the built-up fold was attempted in the 
Han dynasty, but that China owes to the introduction of Buddhism and 
consequently to a Hellenistic influence the technique of the fold. 

The sculptural groups on pillars give us an admirable idea of the extent 
of the powers of modelling of which the Han sculptors were capable. 
The supporting corner figures (Plate 5) display considerable sense of 
strength, the crouching bodies bowed beneath the weight they support. 
In contrast the group on the capital is all life and activity ; the Rider with 
joyous expression urging his stag along is rendered with great verve. 
But the modelling is only superficial, and it cannot be claimed that the 
treatment of the human body has reached at all an advanced stage. It is 
possible that these sculptured pillars in Ssechuan do not represent an 
entirely Chinese form of the art. Their appearance is, at any rate, dis- 
tinctly hybrid, but it is difficult to say what influence exactly may be 
traced in their forms, possibly once more the Mesopotamian influence 
owed to contact with the Yiieh-chih. On a relief in the Boston Museum 
of Fine Arts is represented the story of Ting Lang, who, when his mother 
died, made a statue of her and treated her as he would have done if alive. 
The statue is a seated figure, the dress treated by plain incised lines, and 
this technique is corroborated by a figure on a pillar in Ssechuan (Plate 6) 


where a similar treatment is observed. Here the folds of the dress are © 


1 Tl. Chavannes, Mission archéologique, etc., 1909, Vol. I, Plates 1-5. (To be referred to 
as Chavannes, M.A., etc., throughout this book.) 
2 Catalogue, Exhibition of Chinese Art, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1915, Plate 20. 


26 


+ = a 


Mat NeDYNASTY TO FALL OF HAN DYNASTY 


represented by a series of fine incised lines, which only inadequately 
convey the sense of movement, which the built-up fold would give. It is 
the primitive attempt of the sculptor, to whom the human figure was the 
least familiar of his subjects. To sum up then, it seems probable though 
not certain, because we do not perhaps possess any relic of the finest 
figure-sculpture in the round, that the general method in vogue was to 
treat the body and dress as one entity, the artist laying his greatest 
emphasis on the outline of the figure and allowing himself at the 
most a series of incised lines to indicate the folds of the dress. 


HAN ARCHITECTURE 


The treatment of pillars in front of tombs, the decorative groups on 
which have been mentioned above, brings up the whole question of Han 
architecture, in connection with which a number of interesting descrip- 
tions have been left us. It is from Han architecture that Japanese and 
Chinese temples derive much of their design, and in many of the Han 
palaces decorative sculpture played a large part. The Ling kuang palace 
has already been mentioned. The Palace of the Copper Cocks was one 
of the most famous; perhaps there is an echo of its most distinguishing 
feature in the wooden birds on the baldachin of the Horyuji temple. The 
Emperor Wu Ti,’ in 120 B.c., contemplating a campaign against the 
southern state of Kun-ming (now Yunnan), constructed a lake, afterwards 
known as the Kun-ming Lake, in order to practise sea-fighting. By or in 
the lake was a stone carp, 30 ft. in length, which was supposed to roar 
and move its gills and tail when bad weather was coming. At each side 
of the lake were figures of the Herdboy and the Weaving Lady, the stars, 
which are separated by the Milky Way.? From a literary reference by Tu Fu 
we know that they were still in existence in the 8th century. In 116 B.c., 
or according to other accounts in 109 B.Cc., the T‘ung t‘ien (communica- 
tion with Heaven) terrace was added to the Kan-ch‘iian Palace. It was 
200 ft. high and the beams were made of fragrant po wood, which scented 
the breeze for two miles around. On the terrace were bronze pillars 300 ft. 
high with giant Asien on top holding in their palms the huge bronze 
dishes called the Dew-gatherers, which were visible forty miles from 
Ch‘ang-an. The joists and arbels and the terrace were carved with 
dragons and pheenixes. The Chinese Wei emperor broke them in 237 A.D. 
when trying to transfer them to Lo-yang. Another famous object at 

1 Hsi Ching Tsa Chi, 1. 
2 The myth is one of the most popular fairy stories of China. 


27 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


Ch‘ang-an was the Flying Gryphon—a monster with stag’s body, bird’s 
head, horns, and a serpent’s tail, spotted like a leopard—which crowned 
the Cassia-tree pavilion. It was removed to Lo-yang and melted down 
like so many other works of art, when Tung Cho replenished the mint. 
Innumerable other references are found to bronze dragons, horses, etc., 
and it is obvious that in Han times bronze casting reached a height of 
perfection it never attained again. 


HAN SCULPTURE 
(3) THE PILLARS IN FRONT OF TOMBS 


These pillars represent an entirely unique type of Chinese art and the 
rectilinear form of the Han pillars, of which about twenty are known, is 
architecturally quite different from that of the later types, which are curvi- 
linear. The Han pillars vary from a simple type, such as those of Teng- 
feng in Honan, to the complex type of P‘ing Yang at Mien-chou in Ssechuan. 
The pillars consist of a main shaft with a smaller block counter-buttressed 
to it; this smaller block has often been lost, They are built from dressed 
blocks of stone, which are often carved in bas-relief, the raised type (3) 
being that generally used, though occasionally type (2) is found. The 
simplest form consists of a plain shaft crowned with a sloping roof of 
stone pantiles, the smaller block, if in existence, buttressed to the side ; 
the most complex type is supplemented by entablatures, brackets, sculp- 
tural panels, and machicolations (cf. Plate 6). The majority of these pillars 
have been found in Ssechuan!, but there is no reason to conclude from 
that that this was the district in which they were most popular. 


HAN SCULPTURE 
(4) ANIMAL SCULPTURE 


By far the greatest number of the relics of Han sculpture represent animal 
subjects. That the types into which I shall later group the animal forms 
are to be dated in the Han period, or are at any rate to be classified as 
Han in inspiration, is borne out by the evidence of pottery and of bas- 
relief. The evidence on the excavation of bronze ornaments has, as a 
rule, not been preserved, nor has the evidence on jade ; but all these types 
of animals occur either on the ornamented bands of the green-glazed Han 
pottery, on the Han funerary reliefs or on the carved slabs of the pillars 
in front of the Han tombs, All these three arts are incontestably of the 
Han period by reason either of dating or of evidence built on trustworthy 


* It is to the Mission Segalen that we owe our knowledge of Han sculpture in Ssechuan. 


28 


CH*IN DYNASTY TO FALL OF HAN DYNASTY 


sources of excavation. From the material of these three arts it is possible 
to date many animal forms in bronze and jade and entirely neglect any 
information as to their provenance. Under the Western Han emperors 
it is a resuscitation of Chou art that was most advocated; consequently 
we should expect archaism to be the main feature of the style; it is not 
possible, however, to mark a difference at all definitely between the styles 
of the two periods. But the strange animation, the subdued strength, 
which underlies so many of the Han animal forms, is the result, I main- 
tain, of the influx of Central Asian ideas, which cannot have reached their 
zenith till some time after Wu ti’s conquests, that is to say, near the close 
of the Western Han dynasty, and the dating of many of the characteristic 
pieces of this type is more plausible in the Eastern Han dynasty. 

Of the Western Han dynasty only one monument remains, a group at 
the tomb of the General Ho K‘iu ping’ (119 B.c.). A few paces from the 
tumulus to the south stands the remaining group (Plate 7)—there seem to 
have originally been two other similar ones to north and west—and beside 
it a stele of the Ch‘ien lung period bearing the inscription, ‘‘ Tomb of 
Ho k‘iu ping, who bore in Han times the title of Chief of gallant warriors 
ta ssi ma, marquis of Kuan Chiin.” The group represents a horse tramp- 
ling to the ground a barbarian warrior, who sprawls beneath, a foreign type 
with huge head and bulging eyes. This is apparently symbolical, if taken 
as it stands, but I think it possible that originally there was a figure of a 
warrior on the back of the horse ; symbolical monumental sculpture is 
not a Chinese form. The group is stiff and archaic, but there is consider- 
able graphic force in the lines of the animal and in the contrast between 
the powerful beast and the puny man, The horse is a heavy plain animal, 
its tail hanging stiffly downwards, the four feet planted on the ground. 
The group is of granite and stands about 5 ft. from the earth to the top 
of the head. Technically it is treated somewhat in the manner of a relief, 
that is to say, that the sculptor has not cut away the stone between the 
belly and the ground or the tail and the haunches. This graphic force 
allied with a marked archaism is to be found in many smaller pieces of 
sculpture ascribed to the Han dynasty, and it would seem a possibility 
that these characteristics should be classified as typical of the Western 
Han dynasty style. The jade group of a dog and a bird in the Rutherston 
Collection (Plate 8, Fig. 2) exhibits these characteristics and may perhaps 
be assigned to this period. The same solidity of stance, a similarity in the 
lines of the body, a certain heaviness in the representation seem to me to 

1 Journal Asiatique, May-June, 1915. 


29 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


connect it with the type of the Ho ch‘ii ping group. A jade dragon in the 
Freer Collection, Washington, also shows the same quality of form. 

It is to the wider expansion of commercial and political interests that 
much of the development of animal forms under the Eastern Han Empire 
is due. The Hsiung-nu and the Yiieh-chih by constant contact introduced 
elements of Scythian, Mesopotamian, Hellenistic art into Chinese animal 
forms. An illustration of the part which Scythian art played in China 
is well shown by two metal plaques in the Stoclet Collection.1 On one, 
a Scythian example, is represented a fight between a tiger and an onager. 
The free movements of the animals, the savage violence of the battle, are 
characterized by that primeval ferocity which is so evident in all primitive 
craft. A similar design translated into Chinese art—here the tiger 
opposes an aurochs—is marked by a complete change. The same free 
movement is there, but the sophistication that centuries of craftsmen’s 
tradition brings with it has produced consciousness of design, and though 
a much finer work of art, the originality is less patent, 

Eastern Han animal sculpture may, roughly speaking, be divided into 
three classes, each marked by a characteristic :— 


(a) Slimness of body. 
(6) Heraldic design. 
(c) Natural vigour. 


Of these types perhaps (a) is the most widespread. The elongated body, 
which is such a characteristic of many of the Han animals, is the result of 
the influence, originally at any rate, of Mesopotamian forms. These thin, 
drawn-out types are found in great evidence in Greco-Bactrian art, and in 
all probability reached China primarily as a result of the Han contact 
with the Yiieh-chih. The forms are a combination of Hellenistic and 
Iranian ideas, and appear in every branch of Han art in which animal 
figures appear. With these forms came also the “ flying gallop,” that 
convention in which the eye is instantaneously transferred from front 
legs to back legs of a running animal and sees them both in the air at 
once, without realizing that, as a rule, two at least are on the ground. 
These slim animals are characterized by a latent strength all their own. 
The lion with a rabbit on its back (Plate 9, Fig. 1) conveys the type of these 
emaciated beasts perfectly. There is a vigour in the arch of the back, a 
suppressed violence in the stance of the fore-paws, but withal a lissom 


1 A, de Tizac, Animals in Chinese Art, 1923, Plate 18. 
30 


Stee N DYNASTY TO FALL OF HAN DYNASTY 


grace about the body, which stamps the type as unforgettable. This form 
of double animal representation was common in Assyria, and it is probable 
that the idea filtered through via the Yiieh-chih with many other ideas 
from the Mesopotamian civilizations. Another fine instance of this slim 
type is the figure of a leopard (Plate 8, Fig. 1), in which the curve of the 
body and the vigour alike are superb. I have illustrated this bronze in 
its present position to display the form of the animal better; but it is 
obvious to my mind that the beast should not be rampant but tumblant, 
that the bronze in fact represents a leopard balancing on a platform, and 
that the ring on his hind-paws held originally some small vase or cup. 

The heraldic type (6) does not necessarily embody the exaggerated stiff- 
ness which is a feature of actual heraldic animals, but has the same quality 
of line as the animal designs on early Rhages or Hispano-Moresque 
pottery. Of this type no finer example could be illustrated than the 
Pheenix of the Morning of the pillars of Ch‘en at Chit hsien in Ssechuan 
(Plate 10). This magnificent bird, discovered by the Mission Segalen in 
1914, 1s possibly the finest piece of Han sculpture extant. The pose of the 
*“ Pheenix ” is superb, one leg insolently raised to step forward. Both 
wings are open, beating the air with lofty pinions; the tail flaunts behind 
and the proud carriage is marked in every curve of the body, in every 
line of the head. The technique is of the simplest, a free-cut outline, a 
slight modelling of body, wings, and talons, a series of deep-cut lines to 
indicate the decoration of feathers. This simplicity emphasizes the 
grandeur of the design. The same type is found on clay tiles of the 
period where in less grandiose manner the four beasts of the quarters of 
the universe are to be found; the Blue Dragon of the East guardian of 
Spring, the Red Phenix of the South bird of the Summer, the White 
Tiger of the West watching over the Autumn, the Black Tortoise of the 
North protector of the Winter. 

Into class (c) may be grouped the remaining forms of animal repre- 
sentation. The term “ natural vigour ’”’ is a loose phrase, but one which 
conveys the conception of the Han craftsmen, who often selected a 
particular characteristic of the animal and emphasized it in relation to their 
representation. And all Han animal forms are marked by this natural 
vigour, which seems every moment on the point of bursting forth. The 
bronze furniture foot, inlaid with silver (Plate 9, Fig. 2), illustrates this 
well, By the designer’s art the lithe grace of the winged ram is 
admirably adapted to its utilitarian purpose. Each side of the bronze 
fitting is wrought with one of these mythical monsters, meeting and 


31 D 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


joining in a single head. The other example is more imposing, a monu- 
mental sculpture from a tomb at Ya-chou in Ssechuan. (The tomb is 
probably that of the licentiate Kao mentioned in the Ming annals as at 
Ya-chou.) The winged tiger is a superb example of animal sculpture in 
the round of the Eastern Han period. The rather heavy style of the Ho 
Ch‘ii ping monument has given way to a more naturalistic modelling, but 
still one which is not too greatly bothered with finesses of detail. It is 
primarily concerned with outline and here it is peculiarly successful. Block 
out every detail and you will still find the fierce pose of the animal conveyed 
to you by the silhouette. The technique is again of the simplest and tends 
to show that the Han craftsmen appreciated the first principle of monu- 
mental sculpture, which should be designed to repay the distant observer 
rather than the observer who is in the near proximity. As a guiding 
principle for Han animal sculpture it is possible to say that, as in figure 
sculpture, the artist is concerned primarily with the outline, with the 
result that the general treatment is more that of relief-work than sculpture 
in the round, that there is very little elaboration of detail, and that the 
sense of modelling is often conveyed more by the subtle curve of the 
design than by any actual expression of anatomical knowledge. Animal 
art in Han times has lost somewhat of the superb power of the earlier 
representation. The Confucian splendour is becoming adulterated ; 
extraneous influences are creeping in. But a new inspiration adds a 
different lustre to the art, the lustre of natural vigour, hitherto absent 
from animal forms; and it is perhaps in this new adaptation that Han 
animal art offers its greatest contribution to Chinese sculpture. 


1 This animal is noticeably foreign in appearance. Probably the form of art found in 
Ssechuan in Han times was considerably more adulterated with foreign ideas than that of 
the interior. ; 


32 


a a oe, ee 


PART II 
MEDIA VAL CHINA 





CHAPTER III 


BUDDHISM: ITS EARLY HISTORY 
AND HOW IT REACHED CHINA 


SAKYAMUNI, THE ORIGINATOR 


In the year 557 B.c. Siddartha, known variously as Gautama or Sakya- 
muni, was born of noble family at Kapilavastu. According to legend 
from childhood he differed from his companions in his dislike for 
ordinary pursuits and pleasures. He soon left his home and fled to 
Magadha, where he endeavoured to find in religious life the solace he 
sought. But in Brahmanism something was wanting. He resolved to 
listen no more to the words of others. Six years of asceticism near Bodh- 
gaya brought him no nearer his goal. Then he remembered how, as a 
youth, he had sat beneath an apple-tree and entered into a state of con- 
templation. He ate once more and grew strong. One night, as he sat 
_ beneath a fig tree beside the river Nairandjana, deliverance came to him. 

At first he was determined not to preach, but the spirit of Brahma 
appeared and persuaded him to take up his mission. 

Gautama’s creed may be best illustrated by a passage from the sermon 
of Benares, where he went, as he said, “ to beat the drum of immortality.” 
“ Death! is no more; Life gives us the truth. Listen to the truth about 
pain. Birth is pain; age, disease, death, craving for pleasure, are pain. 
Our separate existence is pain by its very nature. For the origin of pain 
dies in the desire for existence, the desire for pleasure. To end all pain 
man must end all striving, all desire. We seek a separate happiness and 
suffer for it. Desire for existence itself must be destroyed. Where lies 
the road to peace? It lies in the divine pathway of a pure conscience. 
Shun the two extremes of life; a life of pleasure is empty and hollow, a 
life of asceticism is worthless and empty too. Our path lies midway. 
That path lights up our knowledge and leads us to peace and wisdom, to 
light and to Nirvana,’”’ ‘“ The cause of evil and suffering is removed by 
purifying the heart and by obeying a moral code, which sets high value on 
sympathy and one’s duty towards one’s neighbour, but an equally high 
value on the development of individual character.” 

The nobles of the court of Magadha, who were accustomed to violent 
asceticism as part of their daily life, were charmed with this new 
philosophy, which combined intellectual appeal without any excessive bodily 
denial. Magadha was the centre of the new belief, and it was precisely 

1 Translated from Grousset, Histoire de l’Asie, 1922, Vol. II, p. 17. 


35 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


when the Magadhan Empire was spreading throughout the Ganges plain 
and disseminating the precepts of Buddhism, that Alexander invaded 
India and set the whole world of Eastern politics aflame. Profiting by the 
confusion Chandragupta, an ambitious adventurer, seized the Magadhan 
throne; the third king of his dynasty, the Mauryan dynasty, was the 
Emperor Asoka. 


ASOKA (2727231198. C;) 


Asoka, though brought up under the auspices of Brahminism, became 
appalled at the massacres his conquests provoked, and fell under the spell 
of Buddhism. His most important annexations, from the point of view 
of the development of sculpture, were the provinces of Kashmir and 
Gandhiara, standing at the gateway to Northern China; he, indeed, long 
wished to send a mission to China, but no evidence can be attested that 
he accomplished his desire. His son and daughter converted Ceylon, 
from which point Buddhism reached China in the South. 

It is partly due to the widespread dissemination of Buddhist principles 
throughout Asoka’s vast empire and the consequent contact with innumer- 
able sects and religions that the true reading of the word was liable to be 
misconstrued, and it is to this that we may attribute the schisms of the 
Buddhist church at a later date and the divergence of the creeds. Buddhist 
sculpture under Asoka and his successors is characterized by one marked 
feature, the absence of any representation of the Buddha. It is not till 
the later revival of Hellenistic ideas and the rise of the Gandharan school 
that the need for representation finds expression, Asoka’s successors 
reverted to Brahminism and the Buddhist centre shifts to the North, 
where Menander and the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and his successors 
the Yiieh-chih fostered a Hellenistic form of sculpture, which acted as 
the inspiration of early Buddhist art in China. 


MENANDER 


Grzco-Bactria was the connecting link between India, Persia, and the 
Far East ; it was also the headquarters of Alexander’s military coloniza- 
tion, and had formed itself into a separate kingdom in 250 B.c. Unable 
to support the throne in Bactria, the kingdom was transported to the 
Punjab about 130 B.c., where Menander kept alive a curious, obsolete 
Hellenism in an Indian entourage. He was an ardent Buddhist, and for 
his pains was canonized. His kingdom fell to the Ytieh-chih about 30 B.c, 


36 


ay ee a ee 


BUDDHISM: ITS EARLY HISTORY 


THE YUEH-CHIH 


The Yiieh-chih are generally considered on philological grounds to be 
of Indo-European origin, and to have migrated from S. Russia to Central 
Asia. About 400 B.c. they were all-powerful round about Tun-huang, 
but about 170 B.c. they were driven westward by the Hsiung-nu and 
established themselves in Sogdiana. They expanded their territory 
gradually, and by about 30 B.c. the Yiieh-chih Empire was of great size 
and importance. The Yiteh-chih! kings, of whom Kanishka is the most 
important, adopted Buddhism. They kept alive, what Menander had 
treasured so greatly, the culture of Hellenism, but with it became mingled 
a modicum of provincial Roman art, due, mainly, to the conquest of 
Parthia by Kanishka’s father. Kanishka is one of the most important 
figures in Buddhist history ; his conversion, as M. Lévi has said, is to the 
East what the Baptism of Clovis is to the West. During his reign the 
Yiieh-chih Empire reached its greatest extent ; under his rule India and 
the West attained their completest union. The deep-rooted Hellenism 
left by Menander’s kingdom in Northern India, the cosmopolitan relations 
of the Yiieh-chih, who could touch both China and Rome, reacted on 
Indian art. The native art had been slowly wakening to life, first under 
the influence of the Achzmenids, then of Alexander, then the Greco- 
Bactrians. Now the full flood of the Hellenistic heritage bursts into flower 
in the North-West under the Yiieh-chih; and it is precisely at this 
moment that Buddhism is on the verge of the first great schism. It was 
natural that the wide diffusion of the creed should absorb some of the 
established rites it superseded. Popular belief demanded images. The 
Buddhist priests felt, many of them, that the time had come when the 
Buddha should be represented by something more than a mere attribute. 
Hellenism with its wealth of deities supplied the need; Roman pro- 
vincialism supplied the means. The Gandharan school of sculpture came 
into being. 


MAHAYANA AND HINAYANA 


To this general feeling of discontent may be attributed the split of the 
creed into the two forms of Mahayana and Hinayana. The Hinayana 
conformed to the original, austere teaching of the Master. True, they 
deified the Buddha, but his philosophy of restraint and meditation held 


1 The identification of the Yiieh-chih with the Kushans whom Kanishka ruled is a working 
hypothesis which may or may not be true. 


37 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


good. In the North the new creed of the Mahayana, with its myriad 
saints, its mysteries, its Paradise and Hell, was to become the popular 
belief. The Eastern mind, always prone to romance, eagerly devoured the 
new ideas. No longer was life apparently a hopeless thing, no longer was 
eternal oblivion the end of all things; Life was built up on the happiness 
of all living creatures, and the man who would seek this happiness should 
aspire to live so that at some future creation he might become a Buddha. 
Such is the meaning of the word Bodhisattva. Gautama’s life became 
regarded as the manifestation of a force, which revealed itself in a thou- 
sand other Buddhas. These Buddhas are not merely his successors, but 
are the rulers of Paradises in other worlds. To the ordinary man faith in 
a Buddha can secure rebirth in his Paradise. In the new creed, too, the 
great Bodhisattvas, such as Avalokitesvara and Manjusri, appear as saints 
of mercy and wisdom, who have indefinitely postponed their Nirvana in 
order to alleviate the sufferings of the world. Mahayana bases its appeal 
on the hope, nay the certainty, of a future existence in a golden world 
ruled over by the glorious saints of the Mahayanist canon, such as Maitreya 
the manifestation of Buddha as the God of Love, the Buddha that is to 
come, Amitabha (Amida) the creator of the Western Paradise, Avalokites- 
vara the God of Mercy. And above all ruled the Adi-Buddha, God of 
Light, from whom all these beings emanate. In 78 a.p. the orthodoxy 
of the Mahayana was recognized and its canons laid down at the council 
of Peshawar; its popularity was immediate, and it spread through the 
Central Asian plateau to reach China about the beginning of the 5th 
century, where it was eagerly absorbed by the populace fed with Taoist 
hopes of a future existence. 


THE GANDHARAN AND GUPTA STYLES OF SCULPTURE 


The crying need for representations of the Buddha and later of the new 
Mahayanist pantheon found an outlet primarily in the province of Gand- 
hara, where from the ist century B.c. to the 6th century A.D., Buddhism 
flourished in the heart of the Hellenistic revival. Here the remote offshoot of 
Grzco-Roman culture brought to bear on the Buddhist canon the recollection 
of that superb technique of freedom and grace that originated in far-away 
Greece. Into the iconography is introduced a host of foreign images, 
Apollo takes on the form of Buddha, fauns and nymphs sport round the 
lotus throne ; Bacchic revels grace a pillar, Poseidon and his monsters 
wind in and out of the frieze of a stupa. The straight profile, the clear- 


38 


BUDDHISM? T1S EARLY’ HISTORY 


cut eyebrows, the full-curved lips, the flowing drapery, all proclaim their 
classic origin ; but it is an emasculated classicism which draws its immediate 
inspiration from Greco-Roman provincialism (cf. p. 37). It is to be 
noted, however, that the traditions of their ancestry have transferred to 
Indian soil two great assets for the future of Buddhist sculpture, nobility 
of pose and flowing line of drapery. 

The native school of sculpture had been gradually developing on its own 
lines and culminated in the Gupta school (from 320 A.D. onwards), which 
soon outstripped the somewhat meteoric achievements of the Gandharan 
school, The elegant figures with flowing lines of drapery, the slim 
Bodhisattvas with swinging chains of beads, their bodies slightly curved, 
the smiling meditative Buddhas, which form the bases of the Northern 
Buddhistic types in China, are the result of Gupta rather than Gandharan 
influence, which is visible mainly in the early drapery forms. And the 
Gupta type underwent a change as it penetrated further south in India, 
The face loses its charm and assumes a heavy and somewhat sullen look ; 
the drapery ceases to flow so harmoniously, becomes more rigid, the pose 
more formal, the expression less happy. It is this type which reached 
Ceylon and thence Southern China. This distinction of types is indis- 
putable, but it is extremely difficult to say that distinction of provenance 
follows in China, for the main production of sculpture was by itinerant 
monks, and a far wider dissemination of types must have resulted than is 
usually acknowledged. 

The greatest period of Gandharan influence in China was undoubtedly 
the early years of the Buddhist penetration in Northern China. For the 
early missionaries were, as we shall see, for the most part Ytteh-chih in 
origin with no reverence for Chinese ideals or traditions. It is unlikely 
that the Gupta style had much influence before the introduction of the 
Mahayana, an event which coincided more or less with the admittance of 
the Chinese to the Buddhist monkhood in the 4th century. 


EARLY HISTORY OF BUDDHISM IN CHINA 


The exact date when Buddhism reached China cannot be determined. 
A theory has been advanced, perhaps due to a laudable desire to fulfil 
Asoka’s wish for him, that it penetrated to China in the 3rd century B.c., 
only to be suppressed by the Emperor Shih Huang-ti as literature. This 
theory is unsupported by fact. Various attempts seem to have been made 
during the earlier portion of the Han dynasty to introduce it, and it seems 


39 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


likely that in 2 B.c. the Chinese envoy to the Yiieh-chih did receive from 
Prince Itsoen Buddhist manuscripts and take them back to China.! Again, 
we know from the Wei ltieh, composed between 239 and 265 a.D., that the 
prince of Ch‘u in 65 a.D. was a Buddhist.2 The traditional date of the 
introduction is A.D. 68 in the reign of the Emperor Ming ti, who dreamed 
that a golden man flew into his palace and, on its being suggested to him 
that it was an image of Buddha, sent to India and was converted. This 
tradition has been satisfactorily refuted ;° but it does seem probable that 
he sent at some period during his reign a political embassy to the Yiieh- 
chih, and possibly they brought back with them the monk Kasyapa, who 
was installed in the monastery of the White Horse at Lo-yang, where he 
was engaged on translating sutras; this last fact, however, is based on 
inconclusive evidence. This much is certain: Buddhism received some 
kind of official recognition in China some time during the second half of 
the 1st century A.D. In 148 A.D, An-shih kao, a prince of Parthia, was 
established at Lo-yang, and commenced to translate the sutras, and later, 
c, 160 A.D., there arrived two well-known monks, Fo-so and Lou-chia-ch‘an.4 
About 170 A.D, it seems that An-shih kao commenced to translate a sutra, 
which was concerned with Amida worship, and this belief was one which 
later caught hold of the Chinese imagination and was widely popularized. 
These early missionaries were mainly Hinayanist, and Buddhism under 
the Han Emperors never received more attention than that accorded to 
an unconventional craze. The majority of believers were foreigners, and 
it was not till the admittance of the Chinese to the Buddhist clergy in the 
4th century, followed by the popularization of the Mahayanist beliefs about 
400 A.D., that Buddhism entered on its real period of popularity. Buddhist 
sculpture is the main feature of figure representation in the period we are 
now commencing, and unless other forms are specifically mentioned the 
general development discussed is assumed to be that of Buddhist art. 
The development of Buddhist sculpture in China seems to me to follow a 
definite progression. The 5th-century sculptor portrays his divinities as 
distant and impersonal beings of fearful beauty, the creations of the 
primitive inspiration. Soon familiarity with the deity tends to rob him 
of his terrors, but still the consciousness of his presence is felt. So the 
6th-century sculptor commences to humanize his image; grace and 


1 Lévi, Journal Asiatique, 1900, I, 468. 

2 Chavannes, T‘oung Pao, 1905, pp. 519-571. 

3 Maspéro, Bulletin de l’Ecole Francaise de l’Extréme Orient, 1916, p. 95. 
4 The first an Indian, the second a Yiieh-chih. 


40 


9 
"i 
‘ 





BUDDHISM: ITS EARLY HISTORY 


rhythmic display are called into play, but still the restraining memories of 
his primitive models imposes archaic convention on his ideals. Later the 
sculptor realizes the imperfections of his deity. So in T‘ang times, 
concerned not a whit with the divinity of his god, he concentrates his art 
on the personal loveliness of the deity, conscious of the influence it will exert 
on the many who see it, The Sung sculptor, whose religious work had 
lost favour considerably in an age that luxuriated in xsthetic and philo- 
sophical pleasure, carved his images in accordance with the refinement of 
his times, images designed to touch and feel. Last comes the decadence 
of Yiian and Ming sculpture, when convention has destroyed all originality 
of design. 


Al 


CHAPTER IV 


THE SAN KUO OR THREE KINGDOMS 


The Wei Tartar Supremacy in the North (386-534) 
| 


BRL Ra, Th 
Western Wei (534-550) Eastern Wei (535-557) 
STONE SCULPTURE 


THE SAN KUO 


With the downfall of the Han dynasty China entered on a period of wars 
and civil strife. The epoch is of small artistic importance, and though the 
succeeding kingdom, ruled by the Chin dynasty, tried to consolidate the 
Empire, it was compelled to relinquish its efforts and content itself with 
a meagre principality in the South. In 311 A.D. the invasion of China by 
Tartar hordes and the subsequent downfall of the capitals finally plunged 
the Empire into chaos. Some time during the 4th century the T‘o-pa 
Tartars entered the province of Shansi. They came from the region 
round about Lake Baikal, occupied Northern China, and in 386 a.D. 
assumed sovereign power over the northern part of the country, taking the 
name of the preceding dynasty—the Wei dynasty. 


THE WEI TARTARS 


The Wei Tartar Empire may be said in some measure to have rejuvenated 
Chinese art. The Han influences were still deeply embedded in the 
country, but long periods of civil disturbance, following on the decadent 
close of the Han Empire, must have weakened the artistic tradition, and 
the irruption of this new and vigorous blood into the nation seemed to 
act as a stimulus to the old instincts. The Wei Tartar emperors soon 
adopted Buddhism, and, despite the efforts of the Confucianists, in the 
North as in the South the supreme religion was Buddhism, 

With the advent of the Wei Tartars a new era in figure-sculpture begins, 
The Han technique still persists ; we still have a gross outline of limbs 
and garments, a sack-like treatment of the robe. But this is less popular 
than the new method, which by folds and floating veils indicates the 
movement of the dress. The elaboration of this method, the particular 
characteristics of various periods, are sufficiently well marked by dated 
sculpture to define the general progress of the art; the face, too, has 
distinctive features of type and cutting to assist such a general grouping. 
But it must be clearly defined that provincialism and archaistic imitation 


42, 


ee ne ee AEE Pee a Ae eee, ae et ee Ma el eee Oe ere 





THE SAN KUO OR THREE KINGDOMS 


often transgress these limitations, and we find in local sculptures features 
inconsistent with the general characteristics of their epoch. There seems 
only two possible alternative methods of grouping. One is to trace the 
development of divinities separately, a method which loses all chance of a 
comprehensive survey of periods; the other is to attempt a classification 
by provinces. This latter, which would be impossible for me, offers the 
gravest difficulties. For the chief method of sculpture in China has 
always been that of the itinerant craftsman, and this, combined with the 
complication caused by frequent changes of capitals and consequent 
transferences of workshops, offers endless difficulties to such a classifica- 
tion. Apart from this the evidence of provenance of sculpture in Western 
collections is, as a rule, untrustworthy. 

The Wei Tartar period was noted for painting and calligraphy, and it is 
partly as a result of this that their sculpture is especially remarkable for 
its delicate charm of line. The building up of the drapery in the earlier 
period is characterized by a tendency to formalism of pattern. Later the 
rhythmic beauty, which is so typical of Wei Tartar art, finds fuller scope, 
but even then it is marked by a restraint, a feeling of stylization, which 
separates it from the extraordinary natural grace that is often found in 
T‘ang sculpture. The Wei Tartars themselves were great sculptors. No 
gitl could become Empress without first casting a statue, and all male 
aspirants to the throne had to indulge in a similar competition. Thus the 
Emperor Tao Wu’s wife, Madam Mou-Jung, was chosen Empress because 
her figure set well, but Madam Lui and Madam Yao never received the 
full rank of Empress owing to inability to cast their figures well. In 352 
A.D., before the Wei Tartars had assumed power in China, Ma-jung Tsun, 
a descendant of the Hsien-pi tribe, ascended the throne of Yen. One of 
his opponents, the Wei Tartar Jan Min, confessed that, though he had 
cast seven statues, none had been successful.? The Wei Tartars undoubtedly 
popularized cave-sculpture in China—tales of course of the Indian rock 
temples had penetrated to China—and the practice became widespread.° 
The first cave known to have been completed was carved at Tun-huang in 
365 A.D. by the priest Le Tsun, but it did not survive. In the collection of 
Mr. Yao of Kuei-An in Chehkiang is a stone carved with two Buddhas 
dated 399 A.D. which was found in Ssechuan.t The principal series in 
China are at Yiin-kang (409-516), Tun-huang (Wei-Sung), Lung-men 
(495-739), and Kung-hsien (535-867). 

1 Wet Shu, ch. 13, fol. i. 2 Chin Shu, 110. 
3 See appendix on distribution of cave-sculpture. 4 Omura, Plate 130. 


43 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


The first period of the Tartar supremacy (386-494) carries us down to 
the year 494 A.D., in which the capital was transferred to Lo-yang. Thirteen 
years before, in 483 A.D., Wei Tartar history was marked by an event of 
the greatest importance, the issuing of an edict by the Emperor Hsiao wen 
bidding all his subjects assume the Chinese dress and language. This 
marks the real commencement of the emancipation of the Wei Tartars 
from their own native customs. Practically all Northern sculpture prior 
to 444 A.D. has been lost to us, for in that year the warrior king T‘o-pa Tao 
ordered a general secularization of monks and the destruction of images 
and temples ;! and as the majority of images prior to that date were made 
of sandal-wood, bronze, or terra-cotta, the chances of their survival 
have been remote. It was possibly as a result of this persecution that 
stone sculpture became more popular from its natural powers of in- 
destructability, but several rock-series of date prior to this are recorded, 
and the great caves at Yiin-kang had been begun some time before ; this 
partially as the result of a messenger arriving from the Central Asian 
home of the Wei Tartars and urging them to renew the ancestral worship 
they had conducted in cave temples of old.? 

In this period the gods are still remote mysterious beings, awful to the 
popular imagination, treated with the austerity of all primitive art by the 
sculptor. The body in Wei Tartar sculpture is, as a rule, treated with 
a very apparent flatness. There is no attempt at naturalistic modelling, 
and the limbs are carved with an archaic sense of gross outline. A notice- 
able feature is the depressed chest and protruding stomach. The favourite 
deity® of the epoch is the Buddha Maitreya, the Buddha that is to come, the 
God of Love. In China he is sometimes represented as a Bodhisattva, 
sometimes as a Buddha and is seated, often European fashion, with legs 
crossed, hands in the preaching attitude, right up, left down ; as a Bodhi- 
sattva he sometimes wears a crown which is occasionally distinguished by 
a miniature stupa. A long scarf passing round the waist and tied at the 
left side is another of his special distinctions, but this is only rarely seen 
in Chinese representations of the god. The distinctive attribute of a 
Bodhisattva in China is the dressing of the hair, in which the ushnisha is 


1 100,000 craftsmen were expelled to Korea, where their presence stimulated Buddhist 
art to great heights. 2 Waley, Chinese Painting, 1923, p. 78- 

3 This and subsequent conclusions on the popularity of various deities in stone are based 
on the lists enumerated by Omura, supplemented by my own observations. Down to 
about 530 A.D. of about ninety figures inscribed thirty-four represent Maitreya, twenty-six 
Sakyamuni. Apart from this there are many uninscribed Maitreyas at Yiin-kang. 


44 





THE SAN KUO OR THREE KINGDOMS 


drawn up into a mitre shape, often adorned with jewels, or is concealed 
by a tiara. Other attributes occasionally appear, such as the five-leaved 
crown, the necklace, armlet, and girdle. 


YUN-KANG! 


The most important series of early rock-sculptures, which roughly 
speaking covers the period under review, is that at Ta T‘ung fu, called 
Yiin-kang. Begun in 409, under the Emperor T‘opa ssu, its construction 
lapsed during the anti-Buddhist period from 424-444, but was renewed 
under the guidance of the priest T’an yao, after the reversal of T‘’o-pa 
Tao’s anti-Buddhist edict by T‘o-pa Tsun, and the caves were temporarily 
completed in 483, when the Emperor paid them a state visit. Actually 
the grottoes were finished in 516 A.D. after the transference of the capital 
to Lo-yang. 

The caves of Yiin-kang are hollowed out of the cliffs to the north side of 
the valley, here about 200 ft. high. Apart from many minor grottoes the 
main temples consist of huge halls, approached through outer chambers 
by a great gateway. In these outer gateways remain the mortices and 
grooves which formerly held the beams of the outer wooden temple, 
which was erected against the face of the cliff. The main halls are centred 
by huge pillars left by the masons to support the roof; these, too, are 
carved with the infinite figures of Buddhist iconography. The principal 
deities originally were, for the most part, gilt, polychromatic decoration 
being employed for the attendant divinities, for haloes, for backgrounds. 
But sometimes the faces only of the principal images were gilt, sometimes 
polychrome was employed for all. The pigment was either applied direct 
to the stone or the gesso process was used. In the majority of the caves where 
much colouring remains the restorer’s hand has been painfully evident. 

The style of the grottoes is a little rude compared with later Wei Tartar 
work, and we feel, which I maintain is in fact the case, that there is a 
very large element of native Tartar inspiration in the types and in the 
treatment. Chinese criticism has been apt to regard them as artistically 
negligible, but many innovations are seen here for the first time, and it is 
chiefly on account of the Tartar element that they seem to me so important. 
The Yiin-kang grottoes are filled with statues, some of which reveal 
considerable Chinese influence, others in which the development of that 
influence is taking place, others again in which Gandharan and Gupta 

1 The majority of the grottoes are illustrated in Chavannes, M. A., etc, 1909, Vol I. 


45 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


features are very noticeable. But the element which prevails is neither 
Indian nor Chinése, but something different ; that element I infer to be 
the naturally predominant one, the Wei Tartar. The variety of detail is 
due partly to the heterogeneous collection of workmen employed—at one 
time General Fu Chien transported 40,000 Turkic families from Central 
Asia and employed them on the caves—partly to the transitional epoch in 
which the sculpture was executed. 

The Wei Tartar sculptors created at Yiin-kang an exclusive type of face, 
which had a wide influence on Chinese Buddhist art. The principal 
images! show a form of countenance which has no prototype in either 
Han or Indian art, and which we must therefore conclude is the repre- 
sentation of the Central Asian type, to which the Wei Tartars belonged. 
It is a strong face with high cheek-bones, lips and nose firmly modelled, 
the eyebrows falling to meet the lines of the nose, the eyes set low beneath 
the brows, lids cut in a narrow almond. It is a fact to be noticed that apart 
from a few instances, apparently confined to the early T’ang dynasty, in 
which a definite copy of a 6th-century Gupta model seems to have been 
attempted, before the Sung dynasty in Chinese Buddhist figures the eye- 
brows do not meet in the middle, but fall in straight curves to the lines of 
the nose. As a general rule the pupils are marked in the Yiin-kang face, 
but in the instances where they are not represented, we realize at once in 
what an extraordinary manner the pupil-less half-closed eye translates the 
image from the rather mundane portraiture so frequently seen in the 
Indian models to the mysticism of the highest religious art. The fleshy 
protuberance on the head is often marked to such a degree as to appear 
like a cap, and this feature is reproduced in many later figures. The 
finest of the main images are well typified by the beautiful figure of 
Avalokitesvara here represented (Plate 12), The god floats along, his 
robes blown by the wind into exquisite curves, an ewer held gracefully in 
his outstretched hand. There is an air of mystic devotion in this figure 
that is unsurpassed; the rhythmic lines are lovely. But there is no 
attempt at any modelling in the figure. The body is treated purely as a 
core on which the draperies are placed regardless of the position of the 
limbs. Withal there is a very perfect sense of movement, a feature which 
is typical of all Wei Tartar art. The high mitre-like dressing of the hair 
betokens the Bodhisattva; the type of face is under Indian influence. 

It is almost impossible to realize from a photograph of a niche the 
restrained charm of the finest figures, but in the Metropolitan Museum, 

1 Ill. Chavannes, M. A., etc, 1909, Vol. I, Plates 146-8. 


46 





THE SAN KUO OR THREE KINGDOMS 


New York, is a statue of a Bodhisattva, probably Avalokitesvara, belonging 
to the close of the Yiin-kang era, which has been removed from its cavern 
(Plate 13).1 The figure is seated naturally, as if in a chair, his legs crossed ; 
this attitude is derived from Gandharan models, where it is fairly fre- 
quently used. It is characteristic of early Chinese sculpture, and though 
found up to about 540 A.D., as far as one can gather from dated pieces, is 
only used occasionally at later periods apparently as an archaism, The 
figure wears a plain all-enveloping robe, opening in the front with turned 
lappets, which is draped in parallel folds, recalling the Gandharan 
tradition. The skirt of the robe is draped round the legs in concentric 
pleats, in form like ripples on water, a method which finds great favour in 
every period of Buddhist art in China. The position of the hands is the 
preaching attitude, the face is the typical Viin-kang face, though here the 
Wei Tartar type is modified by Chinese influence. The hair is parted in 
the centre and lies in even waves on the forehead, crowned with a high 
Square tiara with a figure of Amitabha in the front. The gracious pose, 
the body slightly bent forward, the slim lines of the figure already mark a 
difference from any Indian model. The Wei Tartar element is strongest, 
but here the technique of China is beginning to assert itself. 

In many of the figures, possibly where Chinese craftsmen had been 
employed, the Han ideas reassert themselves; the sack-like robe re- 
appears and the drapery is treated by plain incised lines, as was probably 
the method, as we have seen, in the Han workshops. Where the figures 
are seated with legs crossed beneath them in Indian fashion the robe 
often falls over the edge of the seat in three loops, a feature directly 
borrowed from Gandharan models. In the standing figures at Yiin-kang 
are to be noticed one or two peculiarities of drapery which form the basis 
of future developments. Two types of robe are mainly used ; firstly, the 
complete dress of Gandhiaran tradition, which under Chinese inspiration 
grows more voluminous, with long sleeves. The folds of this robe are 
treated by plain incised lines, and occasionally an attempt at a pattern is 
to be observed at the foot to indicate the form of the folds. The second 
type is a dress founded on the cloak and trousers of the Indian Bodhisattva ; 
but in the Chinese form the trousers have become a skirt, the cloak, which 
in the hot Indian climate is most ethereal, has become a stout, warm 
garment based on Chinese models. The ribbons of this cloak fall from 
either shoulder, are passed through a ring or brooch at the waist, and cross, 
giving the whole an X-like pattern. Towards the close of the period 


1 An almost identical figure is in the Musée Cernuschi, Paris. 


47 E 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


figures are occasionally seen seated with one leg resting on the other knee, 
the head supported on the hand. This type is more frequent in the ensuing 
period and may be most conveniently classed with others of that era. A 
few figures, too, are distinguished by a flaring pleat which droops from 
the lower leg and forms a wing to it, flattened against the step of the 
Divinity’s throne. From this type develops the formal pleated pattern 
of the skirt so popular in the next period. The complete absence of any 
jewelled chains or necklaces distinguishes the robing of the figures at this 
epoch ; but occasionally a plain necklet or armlet is found. 


THE RELIEFS OF THE LIFE OF BUDDHA 


Among the sculptures at Yiin-kang is a series of reliefs depicting scenes 
from the life of Buddha. The panels, which are executed in fairly high 
relief, despite obvious crudities, are invested with a forceful realism, 
which place them quite on a plane of their own. They have been somewhat 
contemptuously referred to Indian prototypes, but I can find no resem- 
blance except in design, and Buddhist designs are always mutually 
analogous. The original force which distinguishes these sculptures 1s 
due to nothing, I maintain, but the primitive inspiration of the Wei Tartar 
sculptors. Take the first panel here illustrated (Plate 14, Fig. 1). The 
scene represented is Sakyamuni meeting the sick man, when out riding ; 
it is treated with all the vigour of fundamental inspiration, the sick man 
hobbling on two sticks vividly contrasted with the vital figure of Sakya- 
muni, cantering along on his horse. Above hovers an apsara, rendered 
with the firstfruits of that technique which later attained such perfection 
in the execution of floating figures, 


The second scene (Plate 14, Fig. 2) gives the archery contest, which is — 


delightfully naive in treatment. Judging by his position it is no wonder 
that Sakyamuni carried off the prize. But the figures are handled with 
great vigour, and the contrapuntal balance of the archers and clay pigeons 
is admirable. The last scene (Plate 15, Fig. 2) is the departure from the 
city by night. The interest of this relief is concentrated on the four 
apsaras, who bore up the charger Kanthanka so that his hooves might 
make no noise. There is no symbolical treatment of the scene with angels 
and beast floating in the air. The treatment is most matter-of-fact. Each 
apsara has got hold of a hoof and is striving with might and main to prevent 
it sounding on the ground. The cumulative effect is superb; it is the 
triumph of materialism over mysticism. It is in these reliefs that I think 


48 


. 
/ 





ge Re ee ee eS A me a a ee ee ee Pee 


THE SAN KUO OR THREE KINGDOMS 


are to be found the seeds of that art, which in such a short time was to 
revolutionize Chinese tradition and infuse it with a new blood, which 
carried Buddhist art to its highest pinnacle. 


404-544 


| | 
Western Wei (534-550) Eastern Wei (535-557) 


With the transference of the capital to Lo-yang Buddhist art enters on a 
new period of activity, in which the taste for images reaches its fullest flood. 
Consequently in small details the variety is considerable. Though the 
T‘o-pa Tartars technically speaking lost control over the country after the 
fall of the Eastern Wei dynasty, in reality their influence continued in the 
North throughout both the Northern Ch‘i and Chou dynasties. Both 
these dynasties were semi-Tartar, their native recognition a sop to Chinese 
pride, and are historically included in the period of the Six Dynasties, 
Their sculpture marks the final development of the Wei Tartar style. 

In the period now under review the gods begin to lose their aspect of 
remote severity ; lapse of time has humanized their forms, transformed 
them into familiar saints. The most important group of rock-sculptures 
is the famous series at Lung-mén. 


LUNG-MEN AND ITS TYPES 


In form these caves follow the same plan as Yiin-kang. Commenced in 
495 A.D. the popularity of the grottoes lasted through the Sui and T‘ang 
dynasties, and examples can be found of Sung sculpture. The latest 
inscription is 749 A.D., and as from 751-763 A.D. Lo-yang was the centre of a 
sequence of revolts culminating in the sack of the city by the Uigurs, the 
carving was in all probability only spasmodic after that date. There are 
very obvious changes in style during this era. The face has become less 
severe, more oval; the nose sharper, the chin of greater depth. There 
is less distance between eyelid and eyebrow. There are varying methods 
of cutting the eyelids throughout the remainder of the Wei Tartar 
supremacy; the upper lid may be straight, the lower curved, or vice 
versa; both may be cut in an almond shape of varying width ; but there 
practically never appears the typical cutting of the T’ang eyelids, in 
which both lids curve the same way, the upper being often centred at a 
different angle from the lower, with a slight protrusion over the eyeball. 

1 Cf, Plate 33. 


49 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


The robe, too, flows much more easily ; there is, in fact, a general soften- 
ing of the whole appearance. Additional pleats and folds tend to a more 
harmonious pattern of the drapery, while the appearance of jewelled 
chains and girdles, the elaboration of tiaras and hair-dressing, add variety 
tothe types. The drapery seldom, however, achieves the effect of indicating 
the movement of the body, but is, in effect, ornamental. This orna- 
mental treatment of the drapery tends to crystallize into set forms as the 
development of Wei Tartar sculpture continues, and the stylized rhythm 
which is so characteristic of late Wei Tartar work is the result. The poses 
are in the main the development of those found at Ytin-kang, as are the 
draperies. One of the most popular types is that of the cross-legged 
figure seated on a throne over the edge of which falls the skirt of the dress 
arranged in elaborate folds and pleats. The early type of Yiin-kang has 
been rapidly outstripped and the formal pattern often reaches a very 
high standard of beauty. As an instance the Maitreya at Boston (Plate 16, 
Fig. 1) affords an interesting example, because it is possible that it was 
carved for a temple. The figure was originally said to have been in the 
famous Temple of the White Horse at K‘ai-feng-fu, and may have been 
carved for a chapel of that building ; certain features, such as the peculiar 
flatness of the body—the head and hands only are carved in the full round 
—point to its having been made to be looked at from the front. Conse- 
quently an early date is to be looked for, as later they soon mastered the 
combination of profile and front view. The figure wears a plain skirt 
belted round the waist, and a cloak with the streamers knotted in the 
X-like manner. The folds of the skirt fall in overlapping sections over the 
base of the throne-line, but the attempt at a symmetrical pattern is still 
more or less in the experimental stage, and the conformation has not yet 
attained that effortless achievement of design this type perfected early in 
the 6th century ;! from this I would date the statue c. 500. Though the 
pattern is not formalized there is a very distinct recognition of the harmony 
of line, and though the archaic feeling and primitive treatment detract 
somewhat from the perfection of the statue, the figure is interesting in 
that it stands at a point both prospective and retrospective. There is much 
of Yiin-kang in its form, more of Lung-mén in its treatment. , 
The Buddha Maitreya gradually loses favour during the early part of 
this era, and by about 530 A.D. Sakyamuni® has ousted him from popular 


1 Cf. Chavannes, M. A., etc, 1909, Vol. I, Plate 237. 


> Of about ninety inscribed figures from 530-555 A.D. thirty-four are Sakyamuni, twenty- 
four Maitreya. 


50 





THE SAN KUO OR THREE KINGDOMS 


favour. Sakyamuni is most commonly represented in the preaching 
attitude, right hand raised, left hand lowered ; but the meditative attitude 
is often met with in the seated figures, the hands lying in the lap, right 
over left, palms upwards. When represented as the central figure of a 
Trinity, he is as a rule attended by Ananda and Kasyapa; he may, how- 
ever, be grouped with Manjusri and Samantabhadra. When not wearing 
the Chinese development of the Gandharan robe with long sleeves, he 
wears a plain pleated dress, draped over the left shoulder, which leaves 
the right arm and shoulder bare. Sakyamuni’s chief distinctions are the 
ushnisha or protuberance on the top of the head, the arnd or mark on the 
forehead, the long lobes to the ears, and the wideawake appearance of 
the face. Many of the other attributes are often seen, particularly the 
representation of the hair in small whorls curling from left to right.1 

The type of seated figure, one leg crossed over the other knee, head on 
hand, which originated towards the close of the Yiin-kang period, is very 
popular in this era. This type is well illustrated by the figure of Maitreya 
in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (Plate 15, Fig. 1). The little 
shrine with the bodhi tree entwined round the arch is entirely charming. 
A good deal of red colouring remains, chiefly in the background of the 
niche, where a rayed halo in black encircles the Bodhisattva’s head. 
Though this figure is not inscribed, comparison with other figures lead to 
the conclusion of its date in the early part of the 6th century. The angu- 
larity of the cutting and the hard rhythm of the pose are features often met 
with at this period, and the identification of the image as Maitreya, which 
it almost certainly represents, renders it more likely to be nearer the turn 
of the century than later. It may be compared with the similarly posed 
figures at Yiin-kang,? when the obvious advance into the more sophisticated 
artistry of the 6th century is made abundantly clear. 

The standing figures of the plain type originated at Yiin-kang are fairly 
common, and that the influence lasted long is shown by a Bodhisattva in 
the Eumorfopoulos Collection (Plate 17). This beautiful image carries 
one back at once to the simplicity of Han sculpture. The simple sack-like 
treatment of the robe is here again evident, and though the figure obviously 
derives much from the Yiin-kang models, the severity of those primitive 
models has been left far behind. The face is unusually lovely; the 
sculptor has here portrayed the ideal of Tartar manhood ; the serenity 
and repose are exquisite. The tiny hands and feet are most unusual, 


1 For the full list of lakshanas, cf. Griinwedel, Buddhist Art in India, 1901, p. 161. 
2 Cf. Chavannes, M. A., etc., 1909, Vol. I, Plate 159. 


51 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


as in the 5th and 6th century the customary manner is to represent 
them larger than life and without any great amount of modelling. In the 
feet the toes are often all of the same length, while the heels never protrude 
beyond the Achilles tendon ; this protrusion is characteristic of Cambodian 
images. The lines of the dress follow the Yiin-kang models in the X-like 
cloak-ribbons and the faintly incised lines of the folds. The whole statue 
is the epitome of simplicity and charm, and for an image of its era—it 
cannot, I think, be earlier than the middle of the 6th century—is rarely 
individual. 

The whole tendency of the period, as has been seen, is to ease the stiff- 
ness of the 5th century. The consequent advance and elaboration is well 
seen in the Maitreya figure (Plate 16, Fig. 2) in the Pennsylvania University 
Museum, Philadelphia, dated 516 a.p. The heavy folds of the outer 
garment begin to be rhythmically treated and the commencement of a 
system of flaring pleats at the side is seen, which in the second half of the 
century tended towards the most elaborately stylized pattern ; particularly 
under the Western and Eastern Wei dynasties, where the flaring corners 
of the robe tend to a triangular form at the base. 

The figure, which is characteristic of Northern Buddha figures in face, 
stands before a boat-shaped mandorla. In Northern Buddhist sculpture 
the pointed stele, which is the non-Indian type, is almost invariably used 
in the case of images or trinities of any size. In the case of the smaller 
images the cintamani (flaming jewel)? form of halo is used; the circular 
halo, the Indian type, may be seen in the North when used as a 
decoration on the stele. 

One of the most notable things about this statue is the great quantity of 
colour left. The newest coat would seem to have been put on not later 
than the Ming dynasty, and in all probability preserves the original scheme. 
The outer flame-border is red, while the inner ground is diapered with 
white flowers with green leaves, strangely reminiscent of English medieval 
alabaster-work ; the face, throat, and breast are gilded, the lips red, the 
pupils of the eyes black. The hair is a deep bluish-green, and the robe is 
crimson, with a border of a darker shade. 

The taste for rhythmic display developed throughout the epoch; this 
is notably visible in the great stele in the Metropolitan Museum, New 
York (Plate 18). The inscription records that it is a special piece of 
sculpture and as a dedication is worth study :—* 

1 Cf, Plate 56. * Cf Plate ur, Picea: 
3 Translated in the Metropolitan Museum Bulletin, April, 1919. 


52 





THE SAN KUO OR THREE KINGDOMS 


“ Under the great Wei dynasty on the 5th day of the 3rd month, in the 
3rd year of Yung hsi (534.4.D.) The Supreme is incorporal, but by means 
of images it is made manifest to us. The holy teachings are profound, 
but with the adoption of the three doctrinal systems they are rendered 
intelligible to the world. Thus, unless the spiritual truth takes form and 
is made discernible, how can we hope to comprehend the ways of Buddha ¢ 
Therefore we, two hundred brethren in the law and righteousness, who 
have perceived the subtle cause and who hold the orthodox teachings in 
_the highest veneration, have imposed upon ourselves the task of making 
certain sacrifices so that some happiness may accrue to his majesty the 
Emperor and to our parents of the past seven generations. We have 
accordingly sought with care a suitable stone and engaged skilful hands to 
Carve it respectfully into a statue of Buddha and two Bodhisattvas. The 
work thus produced is of unsurpassed beauty. Like the brilliant sun that 
lights up the valleys and mountains, the sacred countenance of Buddha 
shines forth and dispels darkness from the world. May this humble 
offering be acceptable. May the deceased, whose spirits now wander in 
the Pure Land of the West share these blessings, and may all living 
creatures far and near be for ever preserved and made the recipients of 
thy mercy.” 


This dedication is the central panel of the decoration of the back of the 
stele which is incised with elaborate scenes from Buddhist legend. This 
practice was the more usual one in the North (for details see Chapter IX), 
but carving in the round seems to have also been occasionally employed 
for this purpose. 

The Trinity on the front represents Sakyamuni with Ananda and 
Kasyapa; a halo encircles each head, that of the Buddha of a type which 
is sometimes referred to as a lotus halo, but which is in reality a formalized 
representation of the seven cobra-hoods of Muculinda, king of serpents, 
who, when the Buddha sat on the banks of the river after the Deliverance, 
spread his hood over him and kept away the rain. A naturalistic repre- 
sentation of this idea is to be seen at Ajanta, and Chinese literary evidence 
attests the arrival of images with serpent haloes at the Southern court in 
the 5th century. The design has become a formalized pattern, but the 
cobra-heads are easily recognizable. The faces are typically Northern, 
sharply cut, and the artist has emphasized the human aspect, as the 
inscription tells us ; the rapt expression of the mystic is here absent. The 
extreme point of the mandorla with its figures has been broken away at 


se) 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


some time, as has the head of Kasyapa; but a close examination has 
convinced me that the original pieces have been replaced and that there 
has been no renewal. The sculptural design of three figures in full relief 
against the plain mandorla is superb, and the arch is filled by a group 
which is the supreme achievement of the stele. This group, representing 
two dragons bearing aloft the sacred relics of the Buddha escorted by 
apsaras with musical instruments, is a common one in varying forms on 
these steles, but here the sculptor has surpassed himself. The floating 
veils of the apsaras, the curves of the bodies, the immense feeling of 
upward movement, are executed with a sureness of touch and a delicacy 
of detail that is extraordinary. All the genius for rhythm that characterizes 
Wei Tartar sculpture is concentrated in the upward surge of the flying 
figures. It is in such groups as these that Wei Tartar art reaches its 
zenith. 


34 





BON wo a ee 


CHAPTER V 


THE SIX DYNASTIES 


(A) The four Southern: Liu Sung (420-479) 
Southern Ch‘ (480-502) 
Liang (502-557) 
Ch'en (557-589) 


STONE SCULPTURE 


Meanwhile at Nanking in the South the native dynasty maintained in a 
somewhat effete solitude the remembrance of its former greatness; but 
it was only a pale relic of their past glory. As in Byzantium the power 
lay often in the hands of the Eunuchs, and eunuch rule has seldom been 
successful. In the South, however, the natural beauty of their surround- 
ings tended to wake the responsive artistic element of the Chinese tem- 
perament to a riper production than in the rugged North. Here, too, 
Taoism had had its beginning, and during the early part of the Southern 
régime Taoism attained a great popularity ; it is partly due to this popu- 
larity that when Buddhism exerted its influence Taoism adopted so many 
of the Buddhist tenets, so that though there was no actual amalgamation, 
there was a quasi co-operation, at any rate from the Taoist side, between 
the two religions. Confucianism in the South suffered a relapse. The 
romantic feeling of the age reached its height under the Emperor Wu Ti 
of the Liang dynasty. During the early part of his reign he was an advocate 
of Taoism, but with the arrival of the patriarch Bodhidarma from India in 
525 he was converted to Buddhism and devoted the remainder of his 
reign to the propagation of that creed. Bodhidarma was the founder of 
the meditative school of Buddhism known as Zen, which under the Sung 
emperors (960-1280) exerted such an influence on poetry, painting, and 
sculpture. In 546 Wu Ti adopted the habit of a mendicant friar and 
traversed his kingdom, preaching the word ; the country, as a consequence, 
fell into confusion and his dynasty fell. 


FOREIGN IMPORTATIONS 


The strategical position of Nanking lent itself to communication with 
India, and many references can be recorded to imported statues. In 404 
the King of Ceylon sent a jade image of Buddha, 4 ft. 2 in. high, which 
was set up in the Wa Kuan ssu temple with Ku K‘ai Chih’s Vimalakirti 
and Tai K‘uei’s processional figures (see p. 6). In 502 Wu Ti dreamed 


59 


STUDY. OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


that a sandal-wood image entered the country. He therefore sent to ask 
for the famous sandal-wood image made by King Udayana from the 
Buddha during his lifetime. A copy was made and reached Yang-chow 
in 511 A.D.! It is possible that a reproduction of this copy is preserved in 
the temple at Seiroji.2 A number of Cambodian images reached the 
country, and places as widely divergent as Khotan and the island of Bali 
sent figures to Wu Ti’s court. It is to be noted that these importations 
were in the main from places where the influence of Southern Indian art 
was predominant. 


SCULPTORS OF THE SOUTHERN DYNASTIES 


A little information is available concerning two sculptors, father and son, 
whose work influenced sculpture in the South to a considerable extent. 
Both were musicians, both wayward and unreliable. Tai Ku‘ei, who died 
in 395 A.D., was renowned both for his painting and his sculpture ; but he 
steadfastly declined to come to court. During the early activity of Buddhism 
in the South the images were cast according to the descriptions in the 
sutras, and were often failures owing to the inability of the sculptors to 
realize the proportions of the body. The images were too crude to move 
men’s hearts to reverence. Tai Ku‘ei resolved to do something better. 
He worked for three years, continually exposing his statue in front of a 
curtain ; from the comments he heard he made alterations. The result 
was his wooden image, which was placed in the Ling Pao ssu temple at 
Kuei-chi. Nothing like it had ever been seen before. His son Tai Yung 
was equally famous. Once when sent for to advise on a statue, the face 
of which was too thin, he pointed out that the real fault lay in the fact 
that the shoulders were too fat. 


SOUTHERN SIX DYNASTIES STYLE 


Tait Ku‘ei’s opinion on the early Southern images is a very just one; such 
as have survived are miserably poor in quality. The Viceroy Tuan Fang 
possessed a stone Buddha, 3 ft. high, of the early 5th century, and a bronze 
figure dated 435 A.D. 34 and others are in existence of the first half of the 
5th century. They are crude, provincial-looking statues, almost totally 

1 Hsien t'unglu,2. * Mil. Fenollosa, Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art, 1913, Vol. I, p. 34. 

3 Fa Yiian Chu Lin and San Pao Hsien T‘ung Lu. 4 Omura, Plate 430. 


5 There is a bronze Maitreya in the Freer Collection and another is illustrated in Selected 
Relics, 1899, Vol. XII, Plate 3. 


56 


SF EA Oe TS ee 





THE SIX DYNASTIES 


unemancipated from Indian models and imperfectly executed. We are also 
confronted with the difficulty that there is very little dated Southern sculpture 
of the 6th century. The Winthrop stele (Plate 21) is an important document, 
and it is possible to build up a small group by comparison with it and with 
these bronzes. The difficulty is added to by the elasticity of the Southern 
Kingdom in the 6th century; Honan was for a time Southern. Also 
many of the characteristic crudities of Southern sculpture are found in 
local Northern work. But the output of Buddhist sculpture was very 
large, and a certain group can be tentatively formed. In this group a very 
noticeable difference is to be seen both in type of face and form of drapery. 
The faces, as might be expected, derived to a great extent from Southern 
Indian models, are heavy in form, often as broad as they are long, the 
mouth soft and sensuous, the nose wide, the eyes small and set rather 
close together with little distance between eyeball and brow. The bodies 
are somewhat squat and, though dignified, static in pose. The draperies 
hang in heavy folds, close to the body, and there is no lightness of treat- 
ment, little striving after graceful design. The Northern treatment of the 
seated figures, in which the robe falls over the edge of the pedestal in a 
formal pattern of folds and pleats, must also have been popular; for it 
was doubtless from the Southern models of this type that the form 
penetrated to Japan, where it attained great popularity. 

A possible Southern example of the 6th century is that in the Cleveland 
Museum, Ohio (Plate 19), in which both front and back are elaborately 
ornamented. The front side is carved with a fine image of Sakyamuni, 
his hands in the preaching attitude, his legs crossed, each foot supported 
by a tiny apsara. The figure is about twice the size of any other figure on 
the stele and is of considerable dignity. The drapery is a little less heavy 
than in some images, and the pleats on the legs are treated in the “ ripple ”’ 
manner as seen in the Northern style. This is even more obvious in 
the figure of Avalokitesvara (Plate 20). On either side of Sakyamuni 
are Ananda and Kasyapa and two Bodhisattvas. In these attendant 
figures the silhouettes and the folds of the robe are clumsy, though there 
is a certain impressiveness in the poses. The upper part of the stele is 
filled with the well-known design of the translation of the sacred relics, 
but the treatment is lifeless ; and never in this Southern group does the 
execution of this scene approach the fire and vitality of the Northern 
representations. On the back is represented the Sakyamuni trinity with 
above three Dhyani Buddhas, the arch being carved with a charming 

1 Cf, the Tori trinity at Horyuji (With, Buddhistische Plastik in Japan, 1920, Plate 1). 


97 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


design of leaves, representing the bodhi tree. It must be clearly noted 
that in both the 5th and 6th centuries it is often extremely difficult in the 
absence of inscriptions to identify the divinities represented, as the Chinese 
sculptors often deviated from the strict poses and attributes, often omitted 
the latter altogether. This stele is not dated, but is probably to be 
grouped with Southern work of the 6th century. The front of the 
Winthrop stele (Plate 21), which is dated 559 A.D., is very closely related 
to it in the style and form of the main images, but a certain freedom in 
the carving is absent from this stele, which is possibly a little earlier in date. 

A type of image which commenced to be popular in the 6th centuryin North 
and South was the dual representation of Avalokitesvara. Though it is itself 
a single image, it is probably in this group that may be placed the seated 
figure in the Freer Collection (Plate 20). On the other hand the statuette 
may represent Maitreya as a Bodhisattva. Though there is very little grace 
in the body, there is considerable charm in the treatment of the drapery. 
The skirt is arranged in an easy pattern, the rippling folds of the leg- 
drapery flow rhythmically, while the long falling streamer adds a touch 
of individuality. The finest portions of the design are, perhaps, the 
exquisite pattern of bodhi leaves, which encircles the halo, and the very 
delightful group of adoring infants on lotus leaves floating in water upon 
the pedestal. This figure, which I consider typical of 6th-century work, 
is assigned by the curators of the Freer Museum to the Sung period, 
with no very evident reason. The type and pose is one which may be 
paralleled in other images of the dual Avalokitesvara (cf. an example of 
the T’ang period in the Freer Collection). The modelling of the body 
lacks any of the naturalistic treatment which the Sung craftsmen would 
almost certainly employ, nor does there seem to be any trace of the 
archaistic feeling, which would of necessity be evident if this ascription 
be correct. 

The pose of the leg upon the lotus foot-rest and the trailing streamer are 
to be found in Korean sculpture of the 7th century,? and in Japanese 
figures of the same period? And it is to be concluded that the 
original type was found in China. A slightly later group in the Metro- 
politan Museum confirms the pose in T‘ang times. The naturalistic 
treatment of the boys‘ may be paralleled with the figures of the worshipping 


1 Til. Metropolitan Museum Bulletin, 1916, p. 148. 

2 Til. Havell, Handbook of Indian Art, 1920, Plate 53. 

3 Ill. With, Buddhistische Plastik in Japan, 1919, Plate 125. 

* These possibly represent the souls of the Blessed about to be born into Paradise. 


58 





THESTXS DY NAS TLES 


monks on the base of the Peytel bronze (cf. Plate 40, Fig. 1), of the lotus 
leaves with the halo of the Amida figure of the Sui dynasty (cf. Plate 42). 
The freedom of the treatment preclude an earlier date than the second 
half of the 6th century ; but the figure seems to me to have nothing to do 
with Sung sculpture. I do not think myself that T‘ang workmanship can 
be traced in it, though such a date is more plausible. There seems 
to me nothing of the sympathetic treatment of body and drapery which 
is so characteristic of later work, but everything of the stylized grace 
of the 6th century, and in particular of the somewhat heavy, though 
rhythmic, quality which seems to characterize the relics of Southern 
workmanship. 

An important stele is in the Winthrop Collection, New York (Plate 21), 
dedicated by Lu Tzu T‘ang in the Ch’en dynasty which is dated 559 a.p. 
The stele is of white marble and is heavily coloured and gilded; a good 
deal of this colouring remains in the original state, dark red being the 
predominant colouring with traces of vivid green. 

The front of the stele is similar to the Cleveland stele in many details ; 
it is the back that is the more interesting. Jn the central niche is a figure 
of Avalokitesvara, seated knee over knee, at either side two dragons, while 
below the donor and three of his family appear. The long flowing streamers 
of the god’s robe are decorative in the extreme, but the sculptural achieve- 
ment falls far short of Northern excellence; the figures are heavy and 
uninteresting. 

There can, in my mind, be no question as to the authenticity of the 
inscription. The pigment, which is of great age, remains firmly engrained 
in the letters in a manner which I defy a forger to copy. 

In the Freer Collection are also two large decorative reliefs of unusual 
interest, which seem to me to have a very probable connection with the 
South and not to enter the Northern provenance in feeling at all. The 
two panels represent scenes from the life of Buddha and Amida’s Paradise, 
and are treated with a ripe feeling for decoration and design. The gracious 
poses, the soft curve of the bodies, the rich details of the background are 
extremely lovely. The figures themselves recall in their naked simplicity 
and in the treatment of the contours of the body the great Buddha at 
Anuradhapura,! which may be dated from the 4th-5th centuries. The 
lack of plastic modelling in the bodies, the slim arms and feet, the noble 
poses are in close contact with the type of that great masterpiece. The 
reliefs themselves cannot fail to strike one with their resemblance to the 

1 Til. Havell, Handbook of Indian Art, 1920, Plate 52. 


59 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


Borobodur reliefs. But there is none of the voluptuous charm of those 
lovely carvings. The severe beauty of the scenes must date them at a 
considerably earlier period. It is almost certain that if a T’ang sculptor 
had carved these scenes he would have invested them with a greater sense 
of movement, a higher degree of modelling,' and since there is nothing of 
the primitive roughness of the 5th century, it is to the 6th that we can 
most probably assign them. The frigid grace of the North is lacking, and 
it is likely that a Southern artist produced them, working under strong 
Indian influence. Originally they were heavily coloured and gilt, but 
more recently a heavy grey pigment has been washed over them, They 
are very lovely and of the highest quality that the South can have produced 
(Plate 22). In the main Southern sculpture seems to have been greatly 
inferior to Wei Tartar contemporaneous art. 

From this generalization must be excepted the funerary art of the epoch. 
The Liang winged lions have a power that is quite distinctive from any 
other Chinese work, and are, perhaps, the finest productions of the period 
(see Chapter VIII). 


TAOIST SCULPTURE 


It is during the residence in the South of the Chinese Court that the 
making of Taoist images first achieved great popularity. The early tenets 
of Taoism had been philosophical and mystical, but these had given way 
to a creed of exorcism and superstition, and it was this changed form of 
Taoism that was in favour under the Emperor Wu ti of the Han dynasty, 
who was a great supporter of the creed. The first actual image that can 
be traced is the golden figure of Lao tzit set up in 158 A.D. by the Emperor 
Huan ti.2 During the Wu dynasty (229-265) the first temples were set 
up with images of Lao tzu, but it is not till the Liu Sung dynasty (420- 
479) that the elaborate rites in connection with sacrifices, charms, altars, 
and all the other paraphernalia of the Taoist black arts seem to have been 
regularized, or images of T‘ien Tsun, Lord of Heaven, set up. Tien 
Tsun is the supreme deity of the Taoist pantheon, the deification of the 
primordial power of Nature. He and Lao Tzti are often difficult to 
distinguish, though the commonest representation of Lao tzti is bearded 
and wearing a peculiar kind of Phrygian cap. He is usually attended by 
two servants, as is T‘ien Tsun, particularly in representations of the latter, 


1 Cf, the figures on a base in the Freer Museum of the T‘ang period. Ill. Bosch- 
Reitz, Catalogue of Early Chinese Pottery, etc., 1916-19, 330. 2 Hou Han Shu, VII. 


60 





7 Pee eee 


ea ee yy oe 


el 


THE SIX DYNASTIES 


which often approximate extremely closely to Buddhist steles ; these they 
in fact copied, even to the appearance of Buddhist incense burners flanked 
by figures, a design common on the pedestals of Buddhist steles. The 
imitation reached such a pitch that we find in 570 a.D. Chen Luan present- 
ing an address to the Throne ridiculing Taoism. “‘ These Taoists,”” he 
says, “‘ make statues of Lao Tzi with Bodhisattvas on each side, one 
called Vagragatha, the other Avalokitesvara.’’1 Omura gives the earliest 
surviving Taoist relief as 526 A.D.; this is inaccurate. In the collection 
of Mr. Hayasaki at Tokio is an image of T‘ien Tsun dated in the period 
Yung-ping (508-511 A.D.),” and in the Kuroda Collection is another dated 
521 A.D.2 The T*ien Tsun image at Cologne, here illustrated (Plate 23, 
Fig. 1), may be as early as 464 A.D. 

These Taoist figures are characterized by their rough drawing and coarse 
cutting. During the earlier period down to about the middle of the 6th 
century the drapery is usually treated with crude incised lines, recalling 
the treatment of some Han figures.4 The image of T‘ien Tsun at 
K6ln (Plate 23, Fig. 1) has been published several times as a Buddhist 
sculpture dating from the year 159 A.D. in the Eastern Han dynasty. 
The nien hao of the inscription is Yung k‘ang. This is open to five 
interpretations :— 


(1) 167 A.D. (Eastern Han dynasty). 

(2) 300 A.D. (Chin dynasty ; Emperor Hui ti). 

(3) 396 a.p. (Latter Yen dynasty, N.E. China). 

(4) 412 A.D. (Western Ch‘in dynasty, N.W. China). 
(5) 464-5 A.D. (Joujan Tartars, N. China). 


Of these the last two are the most likely, and No. 5 is the probable date if the 
inscription is not a forgery; indeed it is unlikely that so poor a piece 
of sculpture would be considered worth the trouble of an elaborate 
forged date. The possible year, then, is 464 A.D. The Joujan Tartars 
exercised a considerable power over a varying portion of North China in 
the 5th century, and their nien hao would be accepted pretty widely. The 
stone itself cannot be Buddhist of the Han dynasty. It is far too closely 
allied with a group of Taoist sculptures centring round the beginning of 
the 6th century to need separation, nor is it of the type that would be 


1 Kwang Hung Ming Chi, 9. 
2 Masterpieces of the Fine Arts of the East, 1916, Vol. 13. Plate 95. 
3 Ibid., Vol. 13, Plate 96. 4 Cf, Plate 6. 


61 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


expected in a purely Indian importation, which the date 159 A.D. would 
imply. The central figure is entirely non-Indian; the treatment of 
drapery and the falling lappets of the sleeves can be paralleled in other 
Taoist figures.1 The attendant figures, the design of flying phcenixes, 
and the mystical roundels again find parallel in other statues.? The figure 
holds in his hand a curious-looking object, which is not recognizable as a 
Taoist symbol, but which is probably copied from the half-open lotus bud 
carried by Avalokitesvara. The design on the pedestal is probably of the 
donor—a mounted figure would be more usual, perhaps, for a Tartar 
than a Chinese?—and not, as it otherwise must be, Buddha departing 
from the city. The design and carving is distinctively Taoist, and being 
rather more primitive in design and execution than some of the 6th-century 
examples may possibly be dated 464 a.p. If the inscription is a forgery, 
a date in the first half of the 6th century is most probable. 

The fact that the Imperial family, which founded the T‘ang dynasty, 
bore the same surname as Lao tzti was used as propaganda by the Taoist 
priests, and the number of images increased greatly. Taoism was, in 
fact, the official religion in T‘ang times, and many an emperor died as the 
result of the administration of the Taoist Elixir of Life. In 741 A.D. the 
Emperor Hsiian Tsung dreamed that Lao Tzu appeared to him in a vision, 
and he ordered images to be made according to the figure he had seen. 
In 744 he ordered statues of Lao-tzii and Buddha to be supplied by the 
Government to the capital of every province. When the Tai Ch‘ing was 
completed figures of the Emperor Ming Huang and other distinguished 
personages were set up beside an image of Lao tzit. 

T’ang Taoist sculpture is much more sophisticated than earlier work, 
but it is still crude enough in all conscience. The stele in the Museum of 
Fine Arts, Boston, dated 754 A.D., is a typical example (Plate 23, Fig. 2). 
In the upper register is seen Lao tzii, bearded and capped, attended by two 
servants; the folds of the dress falling over the pedestal are unusually 
Buddhistic in feeling. In front of him is a three-legged arm-rest, an 
adjunct of Taoist deities, introduced into sculpture about the middle of 
the 6th century according to Japanese criticism; below are the donors. 
There is a certain simplicity and dignity about the poses and the drapery ; 
the edge of the relief is decorated with a slight design of scroll-work. — 

Taoist sculpture does not add much to the history of Chinese art; why 
the sculptors were content with objects of such mediocre worth is difficult 

1 Cf. the statue in the Kuroda collection mentioned above. 
2 Ibid. 3 Cf. Plate 52. 
62 





THE SIX DYNASTIES 


to understand. The primary reason for Taoist sculpture was the desire to 
emulate the Buddhist popularity; if you are going to advertise,1 you must 
use the best material. Possibly the Taoist priests realized the ineffectuality 
of attempting to outmatch their rivals and did not exert themselves to any 
great extent. 


(B) The two Northern dynasties : Northern Ch‘i (550-581). 
Northern Chou (557-581). 


The Western and Eastern Wei were succeeded by two dynasties, which 
were Chinese in family at any rate, and which, though they ruled over semi- 
Tartar kingdoms, are yet considered as native kingdoms by Chinese 
historians. The Northern Chou dynasty is marked by the second great 
Buddhist persecution of 575 A.D. 


NORTHERN SIX DYNASTIES STYLE 


The period marks the fullest development of the Wei Tartar tradition ; 
rhythmic display reaches its culmination in the quarter of a century which 
preceded the frightful destruction of statues and secularization of priests 
carried out under the orders of the Emperor Wu ti of the North Chou 
dynasty. The divinities are approaching the stage when they were regarded 
by sculptors as an opportunity for exercises in the treatment of the human 
body, provided types were conformed to. They have long since left the 
realm of remote and awful deities and passed into that of familiar and 
kindly powers. The elaboration of detail and the stylized grace of drapery 
achieve their greatest perfection in this era; examples of varying types 
are to be seen at Lung-mén and Kung-hsien? (for other caves see Appen- 
dix I), 

Perhaps the chief characteristic is the great length and slimness of many 
of the standing figures and the rather frigid beauty of the drapery designs. 
A succession of flaring pleats at the side, swathed folds at the waist, shell- 
like pleats on the legs, streamers caught across the body or trailing to the 
ground, elaborate chains and girdles are features which combine to carry 
formal pattern of dress to its zenith. 


1 The most charming instance of advertisement in connection with religion is in the 
glass-makers’ Nativity play, where the second shepherd, on being asked what the leader of 
the heavenly host was singing about, replies that “ moche he spake of glas.” 

2 Cf. Chavannes, M. A., etc., 1909, Vol. 1, Plates 207 and 262. 


63 F 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


The most popular deity of the period is Avalokitesvara ;1 he is usually 
represented standing, a bottle in the left hand, his right raised in the 
attitude of charity, but when he carried the lotus-bud or the willow- 
branch as well as the bottle, the attributes may appear in either hand. 
As a rule, he wears a small figure of his master Amitabha Buddha in the 
front of his tiara, and very often the necklace of pearls presented to him by 
Akshayamati, Avalokitesvara is also represented in the attitude of medi- 
tation, with one leg crossed over the other knee, the chin resting on 
the hand. Also very popular at this time was the Buddha Vairocana. 
Without the aid of inscriptions he is practically indistinguishable from 
Sakyamuni, 

A statue which embodies many of the characteristics of the period, 
though not in their fullest development, is the figure of a Bodhisattva? 
in the Freer Collection, Washington (Plate 24), The slim graceful lines 
of the figure, the delicately chiselled hanging chains are features that 
constantly recur in the images of the various grottoes. The treatment of 
the X-like pattern of the cloak-ribbons has developed; the buckle is 
much lower on the body than in earlier representations. A good deal of 
gold and red colouring remain on the figure, the beauty of which is much 
enhanced by the simplicity of the halo with its Dhyani-Buddhas in contrast 
to the elaboration of the drapery. 

The Maitreya figure in the Freer Collection (Plate 25) seems to me 
characteristic of the seated figures of the period. The treatment of the 
drapery is comparatively advanced and the contours of the legs are more 
visible through the robe than is customary; the pattern of the chains 
is very similar to that on the preceding figure. The design of the halo 
may be compared with that of the Sarnath Buddha (ill. Havell, Handbook 
of Indian Art, Plate LIII B). The figure seems transitional in feeling 
and to be approaching the immature sense of modelling of early T‘ang 
art. 

A stele of great richness is that in the Pennsylvania University Museum, 
Philadelphia (Plate 26). The inscription on the back records that it was 
restored in the goth year of the Emperor Chia ching (1561 a.D.), and that the 
original inscription was dated in the second year of the great Ch‘i dynasty ; 
that the base had been destroyed during civil disturbances, and that certain 
pious individuals had undertaken to set it up again. There is not much 
1 Of about eighty figures twenty-five are Avalokitesvara, eighteen Vairocana. 

2 Very close parallels to this figure may be found in the caves of the Northern Chi 
dynasty at Mount T‘ienlung, near Tai-yiian Fu (ill. Kokka, August, 1921, p. 87). 


64 





THE SIX DYNASTIES 


likelihood of it being a Ming copy, though such exist,! as the weakness 
which is visible in such copies is not present in the slightest degree. It is, 
however, doubtless from the Chia ching period that date the red pig- 
ment with which the dome of the niche is painted and the other traces of 
colouring. The main figures are very vividly carved, and the drapery is 
elaborated almost to a pitch of fussiness. An unusual feature is the position 
of the donors who are represented in a compartment under the dragon- 
top, instead of on the back or the base as is usual. A charming little frieze 
of musicians above the main niche represents the temptation of the 
Buddha with worldly pleasures. The dragons curled round the top of 
the stele are a fairly common type of ornament on monumental slabs, 
which dates from the Han period, and continues on till the T‘ang period, 
when definite regulations as to their use, which was confined to officers 
of the first five ranks, were laid down. One of the most interesting features 
of this stele is the curious series of mythological scenes carved in low relief 
on the sides of the stone. 

The main feature of the standing figures of this era is the growing 
tendency to develop the modelling of the body and the elaboration of the 
drapery, which, both in free line and in formal pattern—the system of 
flaring pleats at the side is much used—often attains the highest degree 
of stylized rhythm. This development of the natural modelling, however, 
never achieves a free attempt ; it is always constrained by archaic conven- 
tion. The elaborate style is well epitomized by the extremely beautiful 
little figure of Avalokitesvara in the Havemeyer Collection, New York 
(Plate 27). In this statue the whole charm of rhythmic grace seems to me 
to be summed up. The swinging chains, the elaborate system of pendent 
streamers and girdles, the rich dressing of the hair, the flowering lotus 
branch, all play their part. The body is beginning to show modelling, the 
head, slightly bent, of great loveliness. And yet the sculptor has never 
allowed the elaboration to run away with him. The whole design is com- 
pletely under control, and here it seems to me that the great figure in the 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Plate 28), magnificent though it is, has 
overstepped the limits of decoration; the pattern of the chains is fussy 
and weak. But the statue is a noble thing. The pose is dignified, the face 
of severe loveliness, the falling folds of the robe at the side very free. The 
profile view is more beautiful than the front ; here the slim body, the long 
lines of the dress, the gracious inclination of the head are shown at their 
most exquisite. It is only in the elaborate detail that this wonderful 


1 Cf, A stele in the Peytel Collection, Paris, ill. Ostasiatische Zeitschrift, Vol. II, p. 335. 
65 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


figure lays itself open to criticism. There is still something left in the 
treatment of the body of the flat feeling of Wei Tartar art, but there are 
also signs of the commencement at naturalistic modelling. From another 
statue at Minneapolis,! dated 571 A.D., in which the treatment of drapery 
and the pattern of chains is almost identical, it may be concluded that this 
is the probable date of this figure, while the Havemeyer statue, which in 
style belongs, I think, to the same period, may be possibly a little earlier. 
The great persecution of 575 A.D. marks the close, for part of Northern 
China, at any rate, of the epoch, which in its latter stages reaches a transi- 
tional period, which bridges the gulf between the archaic art of the Wei 
Tartars with its stylized rhythm and formalized grace and the natural 
modelling and free rhythm of T‘ang art, between the flatness of the 6th 
century and the roundness of the 7th. This transitional period is well charac- 
terized by the later statues of the era under review, such as those described 
above, the figures of the Sui period, on which we are now entering, and the 
images of early 7th-century T’ang work. The painter Ts‘ao Chung-ta 
of the Northern Ch‘i dynasty was the originator of a school, which, both 
in painting and sculpture, achieved a distinctive style. Ts‘ao’s figures, 
which looked as though they were dipped in water from the close-clinging 
draperies, were very popular as models in the T‘ang dynasty, as were 
Wu Tao-tzu’s for the opposite quality, blown by the wind. It is possible 
that Ts‘ao’s type bore some resemblance to such figures as the Bodhisattva 
(Plate 34), Wu’s to such as the bronze Avalokitesvara (Plate 44, Fig. 1). 


1 This figure, which is in the Institute of Arts at Minneapolis, was excavated from the site 
of the Ku shih po ssu temple in Shansi, is dated 571 A.D., and has a further inscription of 
the Sui dynasty eulogising it. It is illustrated in the Bulletin of February, 1918. 


66 





CHAPTER VI 


THE SUI DYNASTY (581-617) 
THE T‘ANG DYNASTY (618-906) 


In 581 A.D. a new regal family, the Sui, seized the throne in the North, 
reunited the two Northern kingdoms, and in 586 A.D. the founder Yang 
ch‘ien subdued the Southern kingdom, and once more China was an 
Empire. The second emperor of the line, Yang-ti, is one of the most 
curious figures in Chinese history. Ascending the throne by a parricidal 
coup, he combined the réles of successful general and recondite debauchee. 
He launched out into vast and wholly successful Central Asian campaigns, 
he constructed a canal system connecting all the principal cities with the 
capital, and he rebuilt Lo-yang and set up a series of palaces for himself 
out of the money his economist father had saved. In the most famous of 
his palaces he had a library constructed in which the doors and windows 
opened when you entered, and closed as you left the room. But he 
indulged his vicious habits too much, and the Empire was split into sections 
once more. Finally, Li Shih-min, prince of T‘ang, subdued the rival 
claimants and placed his father on the throne. It was during the Sui 
dynasty that the Buddhist and Taoist texts were first accepted for the 
public examinations. 


SUI STYLE 


The effect on Buddhist sculpture of the Sui dynasty is, in theory at any 
rate, to combine the Northern and Southern styles. In actual practice 
it is perhaps the Northern influence which predominates, but a very 
distinct style emerges. The length and slimness, which had been becoming 
a feature of the close of the six dynasties in the North,! are often met with 
in Sui sculpture, but there is a tendency to simplify the drapery, which is 
not characteristic of the preceding era. The faces lose the long oval 
shape of the North and become smaller and rounder ; a rather sentimental 
smile is also characteristic.2. There is a certain tendency towards naturalistic 
modelling, but there is still a great sense of archaic restriction, which is 
combined with a very marked delicacy of workmanship in small details. 
The head-dresses and jewellery of the Bodhisattvas are often very lovely, 
and they are thrown into greater patency by the tendency to simplify the 


1 A fine series of Sui caves at I-Li, Shantung, are illustrated in Omura, Vol. I, pp. 275-80 ; 
the resemblance between some of the figures and the two Bodhisattvas on the Tuan Fang 
altar-piece (Plate 42) is noticeable. Cf. figures on Plate 42. 


67 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


drapery. The sculptor is beginning to realize the displacement of the 
dress consequent on the movement of the limbs, and there is markedly 
less of the purely ornamental effect to be seen in Wei Tartar work. A 
good many dated caves with sculptured figures are to be found, the largest 
group being probably in the Kung hsien' (535-867 A.D.) caves in Honan, 
The favourite deity of the period is Sakyamuni, but Amida’s influence is 
rapidly growing. 

Of one sculptor of the Sui dynasty something is known. In 589 A.D. 
Wen ti sent to Nanking to fetch the sandal-wood image, which Wu ti of 
the Liang dynasty had imported from India, to Ch‘ang-an. His envoy 
had it copied by the sculptor Chen-ta. 

An example which illustrates the Sui type of face, though the modelling 
and the knowledge of drapery is, perhaps, too advanced, is to be seen in 
the lovely though sadly damaged terra-cotta relief in the Eumorfopoulos 
Collection, London (Plate 29). Here the delicate workmanship, the 
small broad face and sweet smile are all typical of the period. The group- 
ing and the canopy recall the reliefs from the Pao-ch‘ing ssu Temple— 
now in the Hayasaki Collection—some of which are of this period, some 
of the early T‘ang period, while the hanging banner ornaments may be 
paralleled on the Tuan Fang altar. The epoch is a short one, but it 
produced a very definite style, which can be clearly differentiated from the 
Indian revival which marks the opening of the T‘ang period. The finest 
example of Sui sculpture in existence is the Tuan Fang altar-piece 
(Plate 42). 

THE T‘ANG PERIOD (618-906) 


7th-century history. 


The founder of the T‘ang dynasty soon reaped his reward. Li Shih-min’s 
father died, and in 627 A.D., at the age of thirty-two, he ascended the 
throne, assuming the name Tai-tsung. For twenty-two years he ruled 
the Chinese Empire and elevated China to a position which it had not 
held since the reign of Wu ti of the Western Han dynasty. Tai-tsung 
recaptured the Central Asian principalities, which had broken free at the 
close of the Sui dynasty, subdued the barbarian tribes, who once more 
threatened to overwhelm China, and subjected to feudal suzerainty, for 
the first time in Chinese history, Tibet. Tai tsung is much the most 
important name in the 7th century, his successors being renowned for 
their vices rather than their virtues. 


1 Tll. Chavannes, M. A., etc., 1909, Vol. I, Plates 275 and 276, 
68 


ee eee oe een ee oe 


THE SUI AND T‘ANG DYNASTIES 


7th-century style. 


At the commencement of the T‘ang era Confucianism experienced a 
revival ; Taoism had been adopted, too, as the official religion, but a fresh 
influx of Indian influence and in particular the return of Hsiian Tsang in 
645 A.D. from his long journey of fifteen years visiting Central Asia and 
India, once more established Buddhism as the favourite religion. Tai 
tsung’s consort, too, was an enthusiastic Buddhist and allowed her court 
to address her as Maitreya. Two years before Wang Hsiian ts‘e and Li 
I-piao had escorted back to Magadha some Indian envoys. Among their 
Suite was the sculptor Sung Fa-chih, who while in India made drawings 
of the imprint of Buddha’s foot and of the Maitreya statue in the monastery 
of the bodhi tree. On their return everyone copied them, and the designs 
were spread over the country long before Sung reached Ch‘ang-an. By 
Imperial order he also made the Hsi Kuo chih, ‘‘ Memorial upon the 
Western Lands,” in 16 chapters, 14 of which were devoted to illustrations 
of sculpture, etc. It is extremely unfortunate that this work has not 
survived. Hsiian Tsang brought many images back with him, and an 
official fresh recognition of Buddhism was celebrated in the most lavish 
manner. A list of the actual images is contained in the appendix to the 
Hsi Yu Chi. 

(1) Bronze or gold image, 18 in. high, with stand and halo. Copy of 

shadow image in the Dragon Cave on the front Sambddhi, Magadha. 

(2) Bronze or gold image, 39 in. high. Copy of “ the Wheel of the Law 
being turned for the first time ’’ at the Deer Park, Benares. 

(3) Carved sandal-wood figure, 17 in. high. Copy of the statue by King 
Udayana of the Buddha in meditation. 

(4) Carved sandal-wood portrait and carved sandal-wood Buddha, 33 in. 
high. Copy of “ the Buddha descending from Heaven on a jewelled 
staircase ’’ at Kapitha. 

(5) Silver image of Buddha, 4 ft. high. Copy of “ the Buddha preaching 
the Lotus and Kindred Sutras on the Vulture peak’ at Magadha. 

(6) Bronze or gold Buddha, 39 in. high. Copy of the shadow image of 
“ the Conquest of the Poisonous Dragon ” at Nagarahara. 

(7) Sandal-wood Buddha, 15 in. high. Copy of “ the touring from city 
to city performing miracles ” at Vaisali. 


Hsiian Tsang’s example was followed by many other devout pilgrims in 
the 7th century. Their ways were facilitated by the fact that Tai tsung 


69 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


had given the Princess Wen chéng in marriage to Srong Tsang, king of 
Tibet, whom she converted to Buddhism, and on whose death she became 
queen. The Princess did good service to the faith by keeping the Indian 
routes open. On the occasion of her marriage to him Srong sent Tai 
tsung a golden goose, 7 ft. high, and hollowed to hold three gallons of 
wine.? 

With the T‘ang dynasty we enter on a period in which the gods have 
ceased to be regarded with any awe by the sculptors. The types are more 
or less fixed, and we find the artist embarking for the first time on genuine 
anatomical study. In the 6th century there was a tendency towards 
natural modelling, but stylized rhythm and archaistic convention were of 
greater importance. In the T‘ang dynasty the individualist holds the field 
and is able to really try his hand at a modelled form and a free drapery. 
Certain characteristics are to be noted in T’ang faces. The eyebrows still 
fall to the lines of the nose and do not meet in the middle except in one 
or two early examples under strong Indian influence, perhaps taken from 
6th-century Ajanta models. There is once more a wide space between lid 
and brow; the faces have grown longer again, and there is a particular 
characteristic to be noted in the prevailing cutting of the lids. Both are 
cut in the same curve; that is to say, the line of the upper lid follows that 
of the lower—in pre-T‘ang sculpture the curves are usually different— 
and there is frequently an emphasis of the curve of the upper lid just above 
the eyeball, which is not followed in the lower lid. The line of the lids 
is usually prolonged towards the ears. This peculiarity of cutting is to 
be found with variants in the majority of T’ang statues ;? it is to be seen 
on a few Sui figures, but rarely before that. 

The influx of fresh Indian influence and the new freedom of ideas com- 
bines in 7th-century sculpture to give an archaistic feeling of type coupled 
with an immature sense of modelling to the images. The drapery, too, 
still tends towards stylized rhythm; but there is a real attempt at 
anatomical representation, and the drapery commences to follow more 
closely the lines of the body in its movements. These signs are abundantly 
evident in the Pin yang grotto at Lung-mén.? 

This imperfect type of modelling is well characterized by a figure of 
Avalokitesvara in the Louvre (Plate 30, Fig. 2) which I would associate 
with this period. The body is fairly well modelled, but the arms are not 


so good. The simple dress clinging to the limbs in a series of parallel 


1 Hsin T'ang Shu, 216a, 3 recto. 2 Cf. Plate 33 for a good example. 
3 Ill, Chavannes, M. A., etc., 1909, Vol. I, Plates 168 and 176. 


79 





a ee ee ea Pal | ~ ro “em 


THE SUI AND T‘ANG DYNASTIES 


lines seems to draw its inspiration from Gupta models,! while the heavy 
face with the distinctive curve of the joined eyebrows can be exactly 
paralleled at Ajanta.2 This figure is attributed by French authority to 
the Wei Tartar period,? but it does not seem to me to have anything to 
do with that epoch. There is none of the sense of flatness so evident in 
Wei Tartar work; the Indian type is so marked and the naturalistic 
modelling in the rather elementary stage, which is characteristic of early 
T’ang, is so patent that I think it must be associated with the Tang 
period to which the figure in the Metropolitan Museum also belongs 
(Plate 30, Fig. 1). This statue, which is said to have come from the Lung- 
mén caves, offers all the features which I consider typical of the sculpture 
of the 7th century. The modelling is clumsy, but there is a real attempt 
on the part of the sculptor at anatomical expression. The archaistic 
feeling so characteristic of the time is further emphasized by the curiously 
rigid position of the hand and the old method of cutting the lids. Another 
figure of this type is in the Freer Collection at Washington. Both these 
images belong, I think, to the earlier portion of the 7th century. Towards 
the close of the century I would place a seated figure of Avalokitesvara 
in the Winkworth Collection, London (Plate 31, Fig. 1). The same type 
of feature is to be seen as in the Louvre figure, but the modelling of the 
body has considerably advanced and the treatment of the drapery, which 
is very individual, has a picturesque touch, which reveals a greater accom- 
plishment on the part of the sculptor than would have been found in the 
earlier part of the century. To much the same period must belong the 
lovely figure, perhaps of Ananda, holding a lotus bud (Plate 32, Fig. 2), 
the lines of which are of rare beauty. The pose is simple; the treatment 
of the drapery in plain lines with a formal pattern indicating the folds at 
the bottom carries one back to an early type, but here we are conscious 
that the sculptor is beginning to understand the relation between body 
and dress, which commences to hang easily, clinging in soft folds. The 
face is full of dignity and suggests almost a portrait statue. 

In the seated divinities the Southern type is sometimes recalled. The 
figure of Amida in the Cleveland Museum, Ohio (Plate 31, Fig. 2), is 
noticeably Southern in feature and in dress, showing strong Cingalese 


1 Cf. a torso in the Victoria and Albert Museum, ill. Havell, Handbook of Indian Art, 


1920, Plate 56. 
2 Cf. a figure in Cave 9, ill, Havell, Handbook of Indian Art, 1920, Plate 82. 
8 Cf. La Musée du Louvre en 1920. Vol. III of Les Accroissements des Musées Nationaux 


Francaises, Plate III and text. 


qi 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


influence. The same experimental feeling in the modelling is here; the 
graceful lines of the clinging robe are slightly rigid in form. This is 
probably a 7th-century figure also. 

Throughout the whole of the T’ang dynasty Amida! is by far the most 
popular deity. As the ruler of the Western Paradise he is represented 
most frequently seated cross-legged in an attitude of deep meditation, 
his hands folded in his lap, palms upward. When represented in a 
triad, his attendant Bodhisattvas are Avalokitesvara and Mahasthana- 
prapta. 

About the middle of the 8th century commenced the extensive worship 
of Vaisravana, which continued till the middle of the roth century in its 
fullest flood. The legend runs that in 753 A.D, the barbarian tribes attacked 
Liang Chou. The Emperor Hsiian Tsung ordered the high priest to pray 
to heaven for aid, and himself deigned to stand with an incense-burner 
beside the priest. Immediately a heavenly army, under Vaisravana, 
appeared, and the enemy were defeated. Asa result of this the Emperor 
ordered that the god should be enshrined at the north-west corner of 
every city and that every temple should have a chapel specially devoted 
to him. Vaisravana is usually represented as a standing figure in full 
armour with an aureole, holding a spear in his right hand.? 

Another deity in great favour during the latter half of the T’ang dynasty 
was Manjusri, God of Wisdom, who in 769 was ordered a special hall in 
every temple in the kingdom. As a separate deity Manjusri was, as a rule, 
represented seated on a lion or an elephant. 


8th-century history. 


The chief event of the 8th century is the reign of Ming Huang. His 
long period of power (712-756) is the golden age of Chinese history. Ming 
Huang and his consort, Yang Fei, always extolled for her beauty and wit 
—she seems to have been an exacting courtesan in reality—gathered 
round them a circle of the finest poets and painters, a court of the most 
beautiful men and women. Wu Tao tzu, Wang Wei, Li ‘ai po, Tu Fu, 
are a few of the most celebrated names. 

The disaffection of the army and the invasion of barbarians made it 
necessary for the court to fly to Ssechuan, where Ming Huang suffered 
the agony of seeing Yang Fei executed before his eyes. 


1 The proportion is 14 to 1. 
2 Cf. Selected Relics, 1899, Vol. I, Plate 4. 


72 


5 wl aE a! See 






Sail” 


eee eR ae A, a ee te 


THE SUI AND T‘ANG DYNASTIES 


8th-century style. 


In the 8th century individualistic work lays aside the archaistic sense of 
the 7th century.! The naturalistic modelling of body, hands, and feet, 
and the harmonious lines of the drapery, in which every pleat and fold 
filling its place hangs easily and gracefully, are combined with a sense of 
beauty and restraint, which brings Chinese sculpture nearer the work of 
the Praxitelean period of Greek art than at any other time in its history. 
How near this comparison may be carried can be seen in the seated figure, 
probably of Amida, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Plate 32, Fig. 1). 
Here the well-modelled body showing through the robe, which clings in 
exquisitely simple folds to the limbs, is of rare beauty. The soft lines of 
the skirt drooping over the edge of the throne are sympathetic in the 
extreme, and the fine proportions of the pedestal complete the satisfaction 
of the statue. 

The great freedom of 8th-century work is to be seen in the two superb 
figures of Bodhisattvas in the Pennsylvania University Museum, Phila- 
delphia (Plate 33). This type in which the long lines of the body are 
emphasized by the robe, which clings tightly to the upper part of the body 
in graceful folds and is marked by narrow shell-like pleats on the legs— 
this latter technique was used in the 6th century but the modelling of the 
body did not show so distinctly—while swinging chains and hanging 
streamers complete the design, is one which was afterwards popular in 
Japan during the Tempyo era. The delicate charm of these statues 
expresses the ideals of the time; it was surely such figures as these that 
the dour old sage Tao-hsiian had in mind when he complained that 
T‘ang sculpture was too graceful and that every court wanton imagined 
she was a Bodhisattva.2 These two figures are exquisite, none the less so 
because much of their original colour remains; dark crimson, dull blues 
and greens, rich gilding, is scattered over their surface. They bear a 
striking resemblance to the lovely but much worn torso of a Bodhisattva 
excavated at Si ngan-fou, now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 
which was one of the first pieces of Chinese sculpture to reach the West. 
One can hope that these, too, were once in Ming Huang’s capital. A 

1 The Li-ch‘eng caverns in Shantung contain dated statues from 759-837 A.D. The char- 
acteristics of the period from 8th-gth century can be seen in these caves, illustrations of 
which are given in Omura, pp. 664 and 665. 

2 The Emperor Su Tsung, Ming Huang’s successor, gave Buddhist fancy-dress enter- 
tainments at which the court orchestras of sometimes as many as fifty musicians would 
perform. 


ie: 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


coarser and more severe figure of the same type, but earlier and more 
transitional in feeling, is to be seen also in the Philadelphia Collection ;1 
it is dated 706 a.D. These figures are probably to be dated in the middle 
of the 8th century. 


THE 8TH-QTH CENTURIES 


The last half of the 8th and the beginning of the 9th century were marked 
by another period of feverish activity in image-making, T‘ang Buddhist 
art reaches its fullest development, and the breadth and variety of treat- 
ment are considerable. In the latter part of the oth century great stress 
is often laid on the ornamental adjuncts of the figures, which begin to be 
treated as exercises in skill and to stand out from the statues in piled-up 
and elaborately chased designs. It is the feeling of baroque commencing 
to make itself felt. This baroque impression is well typified by the Amida 
figure at Boston (ill. Plate 32, Fig. 3). The convolutions of the foliage of 
the pedestal with their exquisite free cutting are examples of the finest 
execution of the Chinese baroque artists. The figure of Amida (Plate 34) 
—for it is, I think, Amida, who is represented, though the preaching 
attitude is uncommon. Sakyamuni was not popular at this epoch, and 
the peaceful representation is typical of Amida—must belong, I think, 
to this era. The treatment of the drapery recalls the 7th-century type 
illustrated on Plate 32, Fig. 2, but the feeling of restraint has vanished 
and there is a rich suppleness about the clinging folds, a placidity in the 
lines of the body, which accords well with the beauty of the face; the 
god dreaming through half-shut eyes of his Golden Paradise. 

The Bodhisattva (Plate 35) is one of the most deeply religious figures 
China has given us. On an exquisitely designed pedestal with simple 
lotus decoration the figure kneels in mystic adoration, hands raised in 
prayer. The attitude is of great beauty, the expression of the face of rare 
tenderness. There is all the sensitiveness of a great sculptor in the 
simplicity of this rare little masterpiece. The garments clinging closely to 
the limbs correspond with the descriptions of the style originated by Ts‘ao 
Chung-ta, and it is possibly in the school of that sculptor that this figure 
may be placed. There is a complete control of the relation between body 
and drapery in this figure, a feeling of conscious loveliness, which seem to 
me to place it in this period, the period of the highest development of 
T‘ang sculpture. The height of T’ang civilization was reached in the 8th, 
had already commenced to deteriorate in the latter half of the oth, century. 

1 Til, Pennsylvania U. Museum Bulletin, Vol. VII, 1916, p. 167. 


74 


THE SUI AND T‘ANG DYNASTIES 


Many pieces of T’ang sculpture are undated, and it is not always possible 
to find an exact parallel. The consequent dating of them can only be 
general. 

The oth century saw a more effectual revival of Confucianism. The 
men of letters had for some time resented the great power of the Buddhist 
priests. The philosopher Han yii combated it vigorously, advocating 
the doctrines of the Neo-Confucianism, subtly pointing out that the 
rights of the family, the principle that appealed so much to the Chinese 
citizen, both for its individual advantages and for its antique tradition, 
were totally neglected in the mystic canons of the Buddhist faith. With 
this doctrine he gained many adherents, and with him soon allied them- 
selves the Taoists. This anti-Buddhist feeling came to a head in 845 A.D. 
when the Emperor Wu Tsung ordered a great persecution... There were 
no half-hearted measures; the destruction of the entire Buddhist régime 
was contemplated. Nearly 5000 great temples and 40,000 lesser ones 
were destroyed, and 275,000 priests and nuns secularized. All. bronze, 
silver, and gold images were sent to the mint, all iron figures remade 
into agricultural implements. The timbers of the temples were used to 
build stables, and to ensure the thoroughness of the destruction officials 
were sent through the land to superintend the business. Fortunately the 
chief of these, inspector Su, was himself a Buddhist, and returned to their 
owners any image under a foot long. Many, too, must have been con- 
cealed. But the thoroughness of the methods accounts for the survival of 
practically no large statues except in stone. This destruction cooled the 
ardour for image-making, and though Buddhism was restored in 848 A.D. 
by the Emperor I-Tsung, who is said to have had made as many as a 
thousand images of sandal-wood, the days of the most lavish iconographic 
prosperity are passed. 

It is to the period after the great persecution that I would assign the 
lovely wooden pillar in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (Plate 36). 
It seems to me the production of a ripe understanding, and by its con- 
scious beauty unlikely to be dated as early as 600 A.D., which is the period 
given it in the Metropolitan Museum. It has neither the archaic sense 
of the 7th century nor the stylized rhythm of the 6th century; nor is 
there indeed anything of the naive simplicity of those times. It is possible 
that it should belong to the 8th or gth century. But I should prefer to 
place it in a period subsequent to the great persecution, when the majority 


1 The reason Wu Tsung advanced was that Buddhism was an upstart religion, which by 
its vulgar display eclipsed the splendour of the throne. 


75 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


of the wooden architecture was destroyed. This magnificent piece of 
sculpture once supported a beam in a temple with other similar pillars. 
The design of four Bodhisattvas takes the place of the single great figure 
of Greek architecture. The artist, finding the elaborate type of Bodhi- 
sattva mainly in vogue too florid for his purpose, with a sure sense of 
design has harked back to the simplicity of the drapery of Wei Tartar art, 
and by treating the figures in a very slim and narrow form has created 
a work that is unique in its perfection of line in Chinese art; the 
balance and proportions are lovely. The pillar is richly coloured, blue 
and crimson being the predominant tints. 

Instances of lacquer figures are rare; but in the Amida figure in the 
Stoclet Collection, Brussels (Plate 37), is a fine example which seems to 
me to be of late T‘ang style. The statuette, which is in lacquered wood, 
is very individual, the face that of a young man, the figure immature; a 
conception which is carried out by the simplicity of the drapery and the 
purity of outline in the face. This purity of outline is particularly marked 
in the profile view of the deity. 


NON-BUDDHISTIC SCULPTURE 


Very few images have been preserved apart from those of the Buddhist 
or Taoist canons, but occasionally such figures are met with. The small 
figure here illustrated (Plate 38, Fig. 1) probably represents one of the 
semi- Taoist divinities who protect a man from evil spirits. He holds 
what appears to be a tiger in his hands, possibly the White Tiger, a beast 
of good omen; but the identification of these mysterious divinities is 
always a matter of extreme difficulty. Sculpturally the figure follows the 
native tradition in the treatment of robe and form, which is very charming 
in its simplicity, but it is too sophisticated for a Han figure and seems 
likely to be of the T’ang period. It may be compared for type with the 
human figures before tombs of the T‘ang dynasty. Another rare type of 
figure is of the animals, which have charge over the hours of the day. The 
Chinese day is divided into twelve periods, and to each of those periods is 
assigned an animal, Occasionally in T‘’ang times figurines of these 
animals, which were always represented wearing human dress, were 
placed in the tombs grouped according to their corresponding quarter 
of the globe. An example from the Winkworth Collection, London 
(Plate 38, Fig. 2), is shown; the lines of the drapery are simple and 


1 Chavannes, M. A., etc., 1909, Plate 299. 
76 


OT ‘ 


THE SUI AND T‘ANG DYNASTIES 


typical of T‘ang figurine work. A complete list of beasts and hours is 
appended. 





Tzu: the rat: rr p.m.—r a.m. 

Chou: the ox: I a.m.-3 a.m. North and Water. 
Yin: the tiger: 3 a.m.—5 a.m. 

Mao: the hare: 5 a.m.—7 a.m. 

Ch’en: the dragon: 7 a.m.-g a.m. ( East and Wood. 


Ssu: the snake: 9 am.-11 a.m. 


Wei: the sheep: 1 p.m.-3 p.m. South and Fire. 


Shén: the monkey: 3 p.m.—5 p.m. 


Yu: the cock: 5 p.m.—7 p.m. 
Hsii: the dog: 7 p.m.-g p.m. 
Hai: the pig: 9 p.m.-11 p.m. 


Wu: the horse: 11 a,m.-1 p.m, | 
| West and Metal. 


From this table it can be seen that our figure, which is singularly Egyptian 
in feeling, presides over the hours of 5 a.m.-7 a.m., rules under the auspices 
of Wood, and would be placed in the east corner of the tomb. 


T‘ANG SCULPTORS 


The most famous sculptor in T’ang times was Yang hui-chih. He and 
Wu Tao-tzu were imitators of the 6th-century painter, Chang Séng-yu 
of the Liang period. When Wu Tao-tzu had the good fortune to secure 
a post as court attendant and so received an opportunity of becoming 
famous, Yang hui-chih became so angry that he burnt all his materials 
and devoted himself to sculpture. In this he attained the fame he desired, 
and it was a popular saying that Wu’s pictures and Yang’s sculpture had 
surpassed the divine excellence of Séng-yu’s art. In the temple of Hut- 
chung at K‘un-shan near Soo-chow was preserved an image of Vaisravana 
with two attendants, which was said to be exceedingly lovely. Yang was 
the first sculptor to make an image of the 84,o00-handed and eyed Avalo- 
kitesvara, in which he reduced the number to a thousand, an example 
always followed since. At the Fu-yen temple near Ch‘ang-an all the clay 
figures were by Yang ; he also made a model of the holy mountain Langka. 

Han po t‘ung, known in China as one of the “* Three Inimitables,”’ carved 
a Buddha, which is mentioned in the Ch‘ang-an Topography (Ch. X. 7) 
as being in the temple of the great Cloud Sutra in that city. In 667 a.p., 


qa! 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


when the renowned sage Tao-hsiian died, he was commissioned by the 
Emperor to execute a statue of the dead philosopher, which he did in clay. 
In 656 A.D. the Emperor Kao Tsung held high festival on the occasion of 
the appointment of the governess of Ho Tung chin to the order of priestess, 
and ten of the most holy priests were invited to the ceremony. Wu Chih- 
min was ordered to make images of these priests. His great rival was the 
sculptor An-cheng, who gained great fame by making an image of 
Manjusri, who, he declared, in answer to his prayers had appeared and 
granted him a sitting. The priest Fang pien applied to the high priest at 
Hsin Chou for permission to make Buddhist images. To test him the 
high priest ordered an image of himself. This Fang pien executed with 
the greatest skill, but on showing it to the high priest was informed that 
though doubtless a good sculptor he was unskilled in Buddhism and was 
given some clothes. Fang pien afterwards became famous. Other names 
are Yiian Ch‘ieh, Hsien-chiao, Li-hsiu. But all these are unfortunately 
mere names and none of their work can at the present day be recognized. 


DOWNFALL OF THE T‘ANG DYNASTY 


Towards the close of the gth century the T‘ang Empire fell into deca- 
dence; finally, in order to quell a peasant revolt, the aid of the Uigurs 
was called in and the kingdom broke up. The close of the T‘ang dynasty 
and the succeeding troublous epoch of the Five Dynasties find the sculp- 
tural tradition falling into decay. The dangerous softening of the lines, 
the development of the ornamentation, which is characteristic of the time, 
is well illustrated by the Amida figure in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 
(Plate 32, Fig. 3). There is a tendency in the lines of the drapery to play 
with calligraphic effects, and the modelling of the floral pattern on the 
pedestal, though exquisite, verges on the sentimental. The classic 
tradition of T‘ang art is making way for the characteristic sweetness of 
the Sung period (960-1280). 


78 


CHAPTER VII 


BRONZE BUDDHISTIC STATUETTES 
FROM THE 57-107! CENTURIES 


The making of small bronze images has always been one of the most 
popular forms of devotional art in the history of Buddhism in China, 
The majority of these images were gilded, but now and then figures are 
met with which retain the natural colour and patina of the bronze. It is 
worth noting that under the Wei Tartar régime a peculiarly pale tint of 
gilding was often used, which is very distinctive. These small bronzes 
were often the work of the private individual. Under the Wei Tartar 
régime, at any rate, when image-casting seems to have been part of the 
education of the upper classes, the devout citizen was probably accustomed 
to make small images for himself, for his home, for travelling, for dedica- 
tion on his visits to the temple, even occasionally, perhaps, for presentation 
to his friends. Certain divinities seem to have been popular at different 
periods to those in stone, and the art of bronze progressed much more 
rapidly than that of stone. Consequently bronze statuettes are often in 
advance of the corresponding stone figures, though the same type of 
development is to be found in each case. 

The earliest dated bronze known is an image of Maitreya of the year 
435 A.D.,” formerly in the Tuan Fang Collection. It is a heavy, crude 
figure of no great artistic merit, the drapery bearing Southern Indian 
influence. The inscription gives its provenance as under the Southern 
Native dynasty, and it has all the characteristics of an immature, slavish 
copy of an Indian model. From about 480 A.D. to about 520 A.D. small 
images of Avalokitesvara were very popular. The god is generally repre- 
sented with slim body in varying types of drapery treatment and a lotus 
flower in one hand, a bottle in the other. An instance of the class is to be 
seen in the image in the Stoclet Collection, Brussels (Plate 39, Fig. 1), 
where the figure stands against a boat-shaped mandorla decorated with 
incised flame-designs and wears a heavy robe and cloak, in which the 
folds are wrought into a series of flaring pleats at the side, the elaboration 
of which is considerably in advance of the stone sculpture of the time. 
The date is 516-517 A.D. in the period Hsi-ping. 

About 510 A.D. commenced the popularity of the images known as 
To pao hsiang, representing the conversation between Sakyamuni and 


1 The conclusions on this subject are the result of detailed comparison between a large 
number of dated bronzes in public and private collections and in such works as Omura’s 
Sculpture, Tuan Fang’s Catalogue, etc. etc. 2 Omura, Plate 430. 


79 : 


»lTUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


Prabhutaratna. These images remained at the height of their favour till 
about 540 A.D. I have illustrated two examples, widely different in 
characteristic. The first in the Stoclet Collection, Brussels (Plate 39, 
Fig, 2), despite its Northern origin, seems derived from a Southern 
Indian type. The two divinities, squat little figures, with robes draped 
in parallel folds, are somewhat lifeless, posed straight to the front, and 
though there is considerable dignity in their feeling they afford the 
greatest possible contrast to the example in the Peytel Collection, Paris 
(Plate 4o, Fig. 1). This is one of the most exquisite little relics of Chinese 
Buddhist art. Against their narrow pointed mandorlas engraved with 
flame pattern the two gods sit, slender figures with thin ascetic faces, 
engaged in their divine conversation. The graceful pose of the bodies, 
the exquisite pattern of the folds that droop from the crossed legs over 
the edge of the throne seem to emphasize the flame motive. Below two 
dragons guard the sacred elixir, and on the pedestal in low relief are the 
figures of the two donors, praying. It is a radiant little piece of sculpture, 
shining with the pale glitter of Wei Tartar gilding. These two bronzes 
are dated within a year of one another; the Stoclet bronze, 519 A.D., 
in the period Chin-kuei, the Peytel, 518 a.D., in the reign of Hsi-ping. 
Occasionally during this period figures are found of a very flat type, in 
which the drapery is treated by incisions only. 

From about 535 A.D. there seems to have been a revival of the popularity 
of Maitreya, but Amida, too, is found in fairly large numbers, and from 
about 550 A.D. on till the beginning of the Sui dynasty, Vairocana is the 
most popular deity. A little figure, probably of Amida, in the Stoclet 
Collection, Brussels (Plate 40, Fig. 2), belongs to this period. The seated 
divinity is of the simplest type. His robe is gathered round him in plain 
folds; his hair is dressed in a plain knob. Every detail has been 
suppressed to concentrate on the quiet meditation of the face. The 
robe is a simple treatment of the plastic sheath, but there is an attempt at 
conveying modelling beneath it, and the figure cannot, I think, be 
before 550 A.D. 

There seems to have developed under the Northern Ch‘i dynasty (550- 
581) a distinctive type of Avalokitesvara figures, which maintained their 
popularity right on into the T‘ang dynasty. Great slimess of body is com- 
bined with a swinging rhythm of the limbs and the hanging chains, which 
is occasionally emphasized by flaring pleats at the side. This type is well 
expressed by the graceful figure in the Raphael Collection, London 
(Plate 41, Fig. 2), which, though probably 7th century in date—a very 


80 


eS lest 3s" an Fn ee : to 


BRONZE BUDDHISTIC STATUETTES 


similar figure in the Stoclet Collection is dated 651 A.D.—follows the 
early type pretty closely.1 In the Sui period figures of Avalokitesvara 
are much the most popular, and the god is often found without the 
distinctive image of Amitabha in his crown. When represented with a 
halo he usually wears that shaped like the holy gem (cf. the Raphael 
bronze), or of the lotus petal form with three points. In the latter case 
the halo is sometimes reticulated, sometimes carries at the points figures 
of Dhyani Buddhas. The type of standing Avalokitesvara of the Sui period 
is here represented by a bronze in the Stoclet Collection, Brussels (Plate 41, 
Fig. 1); the peculiar drapery caught across the waist with a drooping 
fold hanging down is said by Omura to be an innovation of the Sui period. 
I have found no example of this type of fold on any figure dated before 
the Sui period, and the form is confirmed by stone figures of the period. 
The naturalistic treatment of feet and hands is unlikely to be found before 
the consolidation of the North and South, and the face is typical of the 
times, 


THE TUAN FANG ALTAR-PIECE 


In a position quite by itself and demanding special attention is the 
famous altar-piece formerly in the collection of the Viceroy Tuan Fang. 
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, possesses the most important part of 
the altar-piece, the group of Amida and his four attendants, the stand and 
canopy, and the two attendant Bodhisattvas (Plate 42). The accessories, 
the two guardian kings, the two lions, the child deity supporting the 
sharito or sacred reliquary, and one of the apsara figures on the canopy, 
belong to Mr. Rutherston at Bradford (Plate 43). The various questions 
as to the authenticity of the different portions must be treated separately. 
Primarily, there is the inscription, which has been translated by. the late 
M. Chavannes, and runs, ‘‘ On the eighth day of the fourth moon of the 
13th year of the Emperor K‘ai-huang of the great Sui dynasty (593 A.D.), 
we, all the mothers undersigned, have respectfully made a figure of Amida 
for the Emperor ”—then follows the list, eight names in all. Primarily 
the words “‘ Great Sui ’’ have been objected to, the epithet not being used, 
it is contended, before the Ming dynasty. Dr. Laufer advanced this 
theory? in connection with the inscription on the sarcophagus in the 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Plate 53, Fig. 2). This theory, however, 
can be refuted. The epithet “ great” is frequently met with in connection 

1 For the symbol of the pomegranate, see the discussion on p. 82. 
2 Laufer, Chinese Sarcophagi, p. 325 (for ref. see p. 92, footnote). 


81 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCOLPTURE 


with Wei Tartar inscriptions (cf. Plate 56 and Plate 18), and instances 
can be recorded of other dynasties, the Northern Ch‘i (cf. Plate 26), the 
Ch‘en dynasty (cf. Plate 21), etc. The use of the adjective “ great ’’ can, I 
think, be accepted, 

A more serious objection is the attitude of the figure of Amida, which 
has the hands in the preaching midra, and not, as usually is the case, 
folded on the lap in meditation. The attitude is that of Sakyamuni, as 
is the vitality of the image, but if the figure represented Sakyamuni, then 
the attendant Bodhisattvas should be Manjusri and Samantabhadra. 
These they are not; there can be no doubt that the figures are Avalo- 
kitesvara and Mahasthanaprapta or Vajragatha. Therefore, if the figure 
represents Sakyamuni, it must be a later addition ; this is, I think, unlikely. 
The face and treatment are typical of the delicate workmanship of the Sui 
period. If it is the original figure, then Amida must be represented. 
The attitude can be paralleled in a standing figure of Amida on a stele dated 
535 A.D., a rubbing of which is illustrated in Bushell, Vol. I, Plate 20 
(cf. also Plate 36). The wakeful treatment can be seen in the image of 
the Amida Trinity in the Tachibana shrine at Horyuji. It must be 
remembered that the whole altar-piece is of very individual workmanship, 
made for a very special occasion, and it is only natural to look for unusual 
details. 

The figure of Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva on the right of Amida, 
is thought to represent Hariti,! as the figure holds a pomegranate in its 
right hand, the distinctive attribute of that goddess, who was given it by 
the Buddha to replace the diet of children she was accustomed to consume. 
Miss Getty declares that this form never reached China,? but the evidence 
of the Chinese pilgrim Yi-tsing is to the effect that the worship of the 
goddess was established in China by the 7th century.? It seems probable, 
however, that her divinity was regarded as a manifestation of Avalokites- 
vara and was treated as such. The pomegranate is to be found in the 
figure of Avalokitesvara illustrated on Plate 41, Fig. 1. It seems likely 
that this form of the divinity was introduced to China as the result of 
the Central Asian conquests of Yang ti; for many traces of the worship 
of the goddess have been found there, and she seems to have been a 
popular divinity. 


1 First suggested by C. F. Hamilton Bell, Burlington Mag., June, 1914; for detailed essay 
see that number and August, 1915. 

2 A. Getty, Gods of Northern Buddhism, 1914, p. 76. 

3 A. Foucher, Beginnings of Buddhism, 1911, p. 286. 


82 


oe an 
a. ee 


BRONZE BUDDHISTIC STATUETTES 


The platform contains five holes on the lower and two on the upper 
step, which, obviously, originally held other figures. Fortunately these 
figures, though separated from the main altar-piece, have survived and are 
in the possession of Mr. Rutherston at Bradford (Plate 43). These, too, 
have been subjected to criticism, and it has been maintained that the 
figures of the guardian kings are at least as late as the T‘ang dynasty, 
while the lions may be even later. One thing can be stated with absolute 
conviction ; apart from stylistic grounds the overwhelming and incontest- 
able advocacy of the similarity of material and patina in each separate piece 
of Mr. Rutherston’s group can leave no doubt that they were all made 
at the same time. This similarity of material is paralleled in every detail 
in the Boston group. Stylistically these pieces can be accepted also, I 
think ; if the two guardian kings are of later date, they carry with them 
the two Bodhisattvas, for, though the former are bolder in modelling, 
the use of the long broad streamers from the shoulders is exactly the 
same in each case. The lions are peculiar, but we must remember that 
Chinese artists had never seen alion. A very similar beast is to be observed 
on the left-hand side of the rock against which the Avalokitesvara figure 
is posed on Plate 30, Fig. 2, and I see no reason to suppose that this type 
may not have been in use a quarter of a century or so earlier. I have 
measured the tangs on Mr. Rutherston’s figures where they remain, and 
where they have been filed down it is possible to estimate the width as 
well; they correspond to the width of the holes on the pedestal.1 The 
arrangement originally, then, was: on the platform the two guardian kings; 
on the step, the child-god supporting the sharito, flanked by the two 
lions. The proportions are just what one would expect, the lions and 
kings being about half the size of the four attendant figures, about a third 
the size of the Amida figure and the Bodhisattvas. 

There remain three further disputed portions—the canopy, the Buddha’s 
halo, and the right-hand apsara. The first is criticized for its rough 
workmanship, but the exquisite delicacy of the seated Dhyani-Buddhas 
on the topmost leaves disarms this criticism. The halo is criticized for 
the extreme natural grace of the lotus leaves. If the halo is to be rejected, 
it carries the pedestal with it on which the leaves appear again, and no 
one would, I think, attempt to do this. Other similar leaves are to be 
found on the pedestal of the Avalokitesvara figure (Plate 20) in the Freer 


1 There is only one tang on each lion, but two holes on the platform. It is probable 
that a peg with a floral scroll similar to that on either side of the child-deity stood in each 
of the outer holes. Such pegs are occasionally seen in groups of this kind. 


83 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


Collection, Washington. The apsara figure on the Buddha’s right has been 
rejected because of the clumsy ring welded on to the hands, which is 
certainly foreign to the delicate treatment of the period. But its rejection 
would carry with it the canopy, for at that point both apsara and canopy 
are patinated a greyish-brown, quite different from the green of the 
remainder of the group. I think the apsara is original, but it is much 
broken, and it is probable that at one period of its existence after damage 
the heavy ring was welded on. What, then, becomes of Mr. Rutherston’s 
apsara, which is indubitably part of the,altarpiece¢ I think myself it hung 
in the centre, between the Buddha’s halo and the top of the canopy. 

Stylistically the whole group is individual, but certain features point to 
a revival of Central Asian influence, a fact which politically we know to 
have been the case. The curious arrangement of the leaves on the canopy 
recall a set of reliefs of definitely Central Asian provenance, and which I, 
myself, consider are pre-T‘ang in date, two of which are in the Louvre, 
two at Boston.!. Mr. Bell has pointed out the peculiarity of the pose of 
Amida, the left leg over the right, a pose which he finds in a figure in 
the Horyuji frescoes, which are probably Khotanese in origin, and which 
can also be seen in the main figure of the Horyuji trinity.2 The figures 
on either side of Amida represent Ananda and Kasyapa and two attendant 
monks, Ananda carries a begging-bowl and a scroll in a box, Kasyapa a 
partially open sutra on which are inscribed the opening words, “‘ Lo, this is 
what I learned of old.’”’ The curious head-dresses seem almost Lamaistic, 
but are to be found at Lung-mén. The individual treatment is most 
marked in these figures. The slimness of late 6th-century work is here, 
but in each figure the artist has made some very definite attempt to give 
it distinction. These four attendant monks are all treated in the same 
manner as regards drapery, a plain but satisfying straight design with 
rather unusual parallel-pointed pleats; but each head has some individual 
touch. 

In the two Bodhisattva figures the sculptor’s genius reaches its height. 
In the Avalokitesvara image the treatment of the skirt with its fringe of 
delicately wrought chains and the beads caught in at the waist achieve a 
most distinctive effect, and the asymmetrical treatment of the veil, which 
falls from the tiara and is tucked at one end into the girdle, is most refresh- 
ing. In both figures the long flat streamers that fall from the shoulders 
add dignity to the conception, while the high open-work tiaras, exquisitely 
wrought, carry out the design of the pedestal on which Amida sits. In 

1 Til. Art in America, Vol. V.,p.7.  ? Ill. Kiimmel, Kunst Ostasiens, 1921, Plate 18, 


84 





BRONZE BUDDHISTIC STATUETTES 


all the figures, except Amida, the hands and feet are treated naturalistically, 
while the sentimental smile on every face is characteristic of Sui work. 
The hanging apsara figures are unique in their design. The long plain 
lines of the figures give an irresistible feeling of motion; they seem to 
cleave the air with wings pressed back. The child-genius who supports 
the sharito is a charming little figure. Tuan Fang cherished this group 
among his most prized possessions, and he was right to do so. It is of 
exquisite workmanship, and, in my opinion, every piece belongs to one 
and the same group, and that group belongs to the Sui dynasty. 

During the early part of the T'ang dynasty the making of small bronze 
images continued and many of great size were also cast, but during the 
latter half of the dynasty clay images were very popular and bronze- 
casting suffered somewhat of an eclipse. After the great iconoclastic 
suppression of 845 A.D. a less number still were produced, and during the 
Sung dynasty very few. The type of Avalokitesvara figure, which still 
persisted in T’ang times, though characteristic of late 6th-century work, 
has been illustrated above (Plate 41, Fig. 2). The forms of the figures 
vary a good deal, but the archaistic influence of the Indian influx in the 
7th century is to be seen in many of the statuettes. 

This is very markedly visible in the face of a statuette in the Metropolitan 
Museum, New York (Plate 44, Fig. 1); the very naturalistic modelling 
of the hands and feet is also characteristic, but the wide-blown treatment 
of the drapery seems more in keeping with Wei Tartar art, though possibly 
this type of drapery may be associated with the style instituted by Wu 
Tao tzu. The very architectural base with its eight sides and nicely 
proportioned stepping is characteristic of the best T’ang workmanship. 
The Sakyamuni figure (Plate 44, Fig. 2) represents the naturalistic grace 
of T‘ang bronze work, in which the artist has reached the stage when he 
is in complete control of the relationship between the body and the dress. 
The figure is probably to be dated in the 8th century. The freedom that 
characterizes T‘ang art is here in all its beauty, and this exquisite little 
bronze is of the standard which T‘ang artists seemed to maintain with 
such effortless ease. 


85 


CHAPTER VIII 


ANIMAL SCULPTURE 
FROM THE 513-107 CENTURIES 


In no branch of their sculpture do the Chinese show their individuality 
more than in their treatment of animal forms. It is often a matter of 
sreat difficulty to be dogmatic in the dating of animal sculpture during 
the period under review, but certain points of distinction can be noted. 
Prior to the T’ang dynasty it can hardly be said that any great skill was 
exercised in the execution of muscles and skin. Ferocity, vigour, are often 
portrayed, but these qualities are shown more by treatment of outline 
and expression, and no corresponding development of anatomy can be 
traced to the mood of the beast. In the T’ang period, however, naturalistic 
modelling supervenes, and the study of animal anatomy reaches a com- 
paratively high level. 

Of the early Wei Tartar period in the North we have comparatively few 
relics, but the animals in the Yiin-kang caves show a great deal of the 
crude vigour which characterizes the figure sculpture. The phcnix 
(Plate 45, Fig. 1) is an admirable example; there is a lingering trace of 
the Han heraldic type, but a good deal of natural vigour has been added 
to the convention. A very distinctive type of horse is found in Wei Tartar 
art with heavy body and thin tapering legs. It is an awkward beast and 
says little for the beauty of Tartar horses (cf. Plates 14, Fig. 1; 15, Fig. 2; 
54, Fig. 2). This type is found in many of the clay tomb figurines, and 
comparison with the Yiin-kang types may assist the dating of these 
figurines. There is no appreciable modelling in an understanding way, 
a certain rough resemblance to flesh-contours being the best the artist 
can contrive. 

With the 6th century, however, the rhythmic expression of Wei Tartar 
art has expanded the skill of the artist considerably and a far greater 
feeling of vigour and movement are to be found. The dragons in the 
sroup on the stele in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (Plate 18), are 
admirable examples of rhythmic design. The demon-animal in the Freer 
Collection, Washington (Plate 46, Fig. 2), displays the ferocity without 
advanced modelling characteristic of animal sculpture in the Wei Tartar 
period. This animal may have come from the Lung-mén caves. There 
is very little evidence in our hands at present as to animal art in the North 
at this time, but a comparison of the few beasts represented in cave 


sculpture can assist us a little. To the 6th century must also belong, I 


86 


oem ; es as e . , 
Neh a Tet es Ry pe al ee en eee iy 





ANIMAL SCULPTURE 


think, such types as the Temple Lion in the Pennsylvania University 
Museum, Philadelphia (Plate 46, Fig. 1). The pose is a little heavy, the 
modelling not advanced enough for T‘ang animal art. 

The North has left us no examples, practically speaking, of 6th-century 
funerary animals. In the South, however, many have been left, and in 
the South a very individual type of winged lion developed, which is 
found in small clay and stone figures as well as in the monumental pieces. 
Though the individual examples of these winged animals differ consider- 
ably in detail, in type they follow each other pretty closely. This type is 
derived from Han forebears, but with considerable alterations. The 
slimness of body so often found in Han animals has given place to a 
heavy-flanked, deep-chested massiveness.1 The chest protrudes a con- 
siderable distance over the front legs, the head is thrown back, the hind 
legs slope backward. The lines of the neck and hind legs, if continued, 
would meet in an apex, thus giving the form a triangular aspect with the 
ground, 

This peculiar type is almost always found in the Southern tomb animals. 
It can be instanced in a winged lion in Honan, but this was probably 
carved by an itinerant sculptor. These Southern animals give an im- 
pression of latent strength, almost, but for their monumental pose, of an 
animal about to spring. A further distinctive feature is that the mouth 
of the beasts is always open and the long tongue hangs down on to the 
chest. A typical example is to be seen in the winged lion of the tomb 
of Hsiao hsiu dated 518 a.p. (Plate 45, Fig. 2). Here all the features 
are very noticeable; the wings are a mere cypher, a concession to the 
animal’s ancestry. How far back the winged lion may be traced is 
difficult to say, but very similar animals are found on the handles of 
bells of Chou design, and it is probable that they are of very early 
design and have always been associated with funerary work. 

T‘ang animal sculpture is distinguished in the wild animal forms, such 
as the lion or tiger, by a latent ferocity, a surcharge of energy, which finds 
expression in savage eyes, in muscles rippling beneath the skin. The 
more domestic animals, such as the horse or dog, are treated with a 
radiant vitality and truthfulness to nature which marks out the attention 
to modelling displayed by T‘ang sculptors. In addition all T’ang animals 
are characterized by a very definite archaic grace. To bear out these 


1 A stone lion from the palace built by Tsao Tsao in 210 A.D. at Yeh near Chihli, which 
was in the Okura Shuko Kan Museum at Tokio, had somewhat of the quality of the Liang 
lions. 


87 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


formule of T‘ang animal sculpture we have the data of the tomb figurines, 
which in themselves are quite enough to mark out the characteristics of 
the period and so date many animal sculptures in bronze and stone, about 
which no evidence of excavation is forthcoming. The grottoes at Lung- 
mén also contain carvings of a number of animals in dated caves which 
bear out these ascriptions. Even if practically all the T‘ang tomb figurines 
in Western hands are forgeries, a fact which has to be faced, certain 
originals must have been found to cast the moulds from which these 
forgeries come. It is absolutely positive that these pottery animals repre- 
sent T‘ang types. In no measure can I show the natural style of Tang 
art better than in the reliefs which adorned the last resting-place of 
T‘ai Tsung, founder of the T'ang Empire. The Emperor, when he died, 
was buried in a tomb, at the North gate of which were set six sculptured 
slabs with portraits of his six favourite chargers. These slabs were possibly 
carved to the designs of the great painter Yen Li-pen. Two of the slabs 
are now in the Pennsylvania University Museum, Philadelphia (Plate 47). 
They are both admirably spaced and simple in execution. Carved in deep 
relief and inset within a broad border, on which floral patterns are incised, 
they represent a high achievement of Chinese monumental art. The top 
panel here illustrated represents the incident of the general Ch‘iu hsing- 
kung! who, when the Emperor was hard pressed and his horse shot at the 
taking of the Eastern capital, Tung tu, came to his rescue and clearing a 
space extracted the arrow from the chest of the charger, “Autumn dew,” 
“ of the colour of the red wild goose.” In both panels the modelling of 
the horses and the pose are excellent, but for myself these panels lack 
vitality and seem rather the work of a builder acting on an artist’s design 
than of an artist working out his own inspiration. There is none of the 
brilliance of the finest pottery tomb horses. As decoration for a mausoleum 
they, however, admirably represent a worthy tribute to the memory of 
the great Emperor of the East. 

Some of the finest animal sculpture in T‘ang times is to be found among 
the beasts in front of the tombs. The most magnificent is undoubtedly 
the winged horse from the tomb of T‘ai tsung’s son Kao tsung at ch‘ien- 
chou in Shensi, which is dated 683 a.p. The horse is a superb animal, 
naturalistically modelled, with flowing mane and head tossed back; but 
the supreme glory of the sculpture lies in the wings, the feathers of which 
are chiselled into an exquisite pattern of curling fronds. The design 
recalls in its free rhythm the fine floral forms which are found so frequently 

1 See Waley, Burlington Mag., September, 1923. 
88 


ANIMAL SCULPTURE 


in Chinese metal work of the T‘ang period and which China owes to 
Sassanian influence, at this moment just reaching its zenith. This winged 
horse may be compared with the superb winged horse on the tomb of the 
Empress Wu! (c. 700), which, though more formally treated, belongs to 
the same category. 

In the smaller examples the same feeling prevails. The tiger devouring 
a hare (Plate 49, Fig. 3) is a masterpiece of realistic animal sculpture. 
The beast is the embodiment of gluttony and ferocity. The swelling 
muscles on the shoulders testify to the violence with which the animal is 
tearing lumps of flesh from his dead victim, The lion surprised (Plate 49, 
Fig, 2) is also magnificently executed ; there is just the expression of the 
baffled beast who has been baulked of his prey, and angrily seeks some- 
thing to vent his rage on. The small bronze lion (Plate 49, Fig. 1) is an 
admirable piece of restrained realism; the strength of the pose and the 
flowing lines of the modelling are exquisitely rendered. Finally, the 
figure of the lion (Plate 50) is splendid in the masterly modelling of the 
body; the line of the back, the strength of the haunches are superbly 
given, and the peculiar material adds considerably to the beauty of the 
piece. This type of lion with straight forelegs, formalized mane and head 
turned back is frequently to be seen in T‘ang sculpture. 

All these animals are merely isolated examples of a great mass of sculpture, 
for which it is almost impossible to formulate controlling rules. But the 
underlying principal of each period seems to follow the lines of figure 
sculpture. 

In the North in the 5th century primitive fire and primitive modelling ; 
in the 6th the same inspiration with an added rhythmic grace. In the 
South a heavy grandeur that corresponds to the heavy school of figure 
sculpture. In T‘ang times individualism and natural grace. 


1 Til, Chavannes, M.A., etc., 1909, Vol. II, Plate 297. 
89 


CHAPTER IX 


THE LEGACY OR @ TELE EAN 
BAS-RELIEFS 


6TH CENTURY AND T‘ANG BAS-RELIEFS 


The bas-reliefs of the Han dynasty, though possessed of very definite 
characteristics of their own, which they have not passed on to any other 
form of Chinese art, have left behind them a tradition which is traceable 
in a variety of different types. Primarily, there are the actual reliefs of the 
funerary art of the succeeding dynasties. These reliefs seem to have been 
restricted to lunettes and pillars forming the rather elaborate doorways to 
the mortuary chambers of these epochs. In these doorways the same 
technique is adopted as in some of the Han reliefs; that is to say, the 
design is engraved on a flat surface and the background slightly cut away 
and roughened. It seems possible that in these reliefs the background 
was originally filled in with gesso, which would materially heighten the 
effect of the design, Faint traces of what seems to be remnants of the 
filling can be found in the crevices of the cutting, but no complete relief 
with its original gesso has yet come to light, and, as in all the examples 
known the gypsum has practically entirely perished, no authoritative 
statement can be put forward on this point. 

A typical example is to be seen in the Metropolitan Museum, New York 
(Plate 51), in a doorway dating probably from the 6th century under the 
Wei Tartar régime. This doorway was one of a pair guarding the entrance 
to a double tomb. It consists of a lunette and two door-jambs, the sill 
forming the base having been left in situ. No evidence has been preserved 
as to the contents of the tomb, but a painted fresco of early type was 
found and the restraint of the design is in keeping with 6th-century work. 
The decoration of the lunette is divided into two portions, a border of 
five panels with designs of symbolic animals and scroll-work, and the 
lunette itself, which is filled by a superb design of a tao t‘ieh flanked by 
two rampant phenixes. The jambs are decorated with a pattern of 
lozenges terminating at either end in a tao t‘ieh. This type of free orna- 
mentation with its clear rhythmic quality is traceable to Sassanian influence. 
That the Han sculptors owned a certain measure of this quality, not due 
to foreign influences, may be seen in a cloud border on a series of stones 
of the Eastern Han dynasty excavated from a small chamber beneath the 
main tomb at Hsiao T‘ang Shan, which are now in the museum of the 


gO 


LEGACY OF THE HAN BAS-RELIEFS 


Engineering College at Tokio.! This cloud border with its flame-like 
quality indicates that even in Han times the native tradition contained 
something of the freedom of design which is characteristic of Sassanian 
art. The Sassanian influence fostered this tendency, which is evident 
in more marked degree in the Wei Tartar doorway here illustrated ; but 
even then the archaic convention, which restrains all Wei Tartar rhythm, 
keeps the full freedom in check. 

In the T‘ang examples no such restraint is to be seen. In such an instance 
as the doorway in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (Plate 52), the 
rhythmic curves are given full play, the Sassanian influence bears full 
fruit. Sassanian influence reached its height subsequent to the establish- 
ment in 677 A.D. of the deposed king, Firouz III, at Lo-yang, with a 
private palace and chapel in addition to the ordinary Zoroastrian temple. 
In this example the doorway, which is a false one, represents a more fully 
developed architectural style than the preceding instance. The recessed 
panels are designed with two magnificent figures of the Deva Rajas or 
guardian kings, representing the dual form of Vajrapani. Dressed in 
elaborate armour and standing on demons, one has in his hand the thunder- 
bolt, emblem of the destroyer of evil, the other with hands clasped repre- 
sents the holder of all goodness. The door-jambs are decorated with figures 
of nuns, their names Yiin kung and Wu Tuan on labels beside them. 
The lintel is filled with two exquisite figures of apsaras with floating veils ; 
in the lunette is a superb design of phcenixes and lotuses. The fine freedom 
of the decoration, which is so admirably spaced, recalls the silver and 
gilded vessels of the period decorated with repoussé designs of similar 
characteristics. Designs of this type may be found as late as Sung times,? 
but the freedom has vanished and we find the patterns subdued to formalism 
and lacking their rhythmic quality. Examples of these lunettes are also 
found with Buddhistic designs, the commonest scenes being those repre- 
senting one or other of the Paradises of the future existence. A magnificent 
example is to be seen in the Freer Collection at Washington.’ A rather 
later example is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Plate 53, Fig. 1). 
Here the design is obviously based on a painting. Certain details such as 
the embroidery on the dresses and the haloes were undoubtedly intended 
for execution by painting rather than by cutting. The scene represents 
Maitreya’s paradise, the deity surrounded by various divinities, and a 


1 Til. Omura, Plate 27. 
2 Cf, a stone border ill. Chavannes, M. A., etc., 1909, Vol. II, Plate 441. 
8 Ill. Bosch-Reitz, Catalogue of Early Chinese Pottery and Sculpture, 1916; Fig. 332. 


Ol 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


very similar treatment of the design was found by Sir Aurel Stein in the 
Cave of the Ten Thousand Buddhas.1 

The lunette has been freshened up at some time; the faces of Buddha 
and the two principal Bodhisattvas have suffered renewal, and I suspect 
that the curiously anomalous lotus flower in the centre of the design was 
carved at the time of this renewal, for the little kneeling divinity ought to 
hold an incense-burner according to the design found by Stein. The 
lotus flower, at any rate, is meaningless where it is and does not fit into 
the composition at all. Withal the lunette is of rare charm; the clusters 
of leaves on the bddhi tree are treated in a singularly pleasant and natural 
manner, There is a mellow suavity about the treatment that must place 
it in the 9th-1oth centuries. The resemblance is so great between the 
types of the divinities and the Central Asian paintings that it may be 
perfectly possible that there is an actual trace of Central Asian influence 
to be seen here. The connection between Turfan and China was one 
of mutual relationship in late T‘tang times and it may be that this 
relief, though primarily of Chinese design, is actually of Central Asian 
inspiration. 


SARCOPHAGI 


With these funerary reliefs must be classed the engraved sarcophagi? of 
which a considerable number exist of 6th-century and T’ang workman- 
ship. Sarcophagi were used as early as the Chou dynasty, mainly of pottery, 
and under the Han régime they are occasionally found decorated on the 
inside with the type of bas-relief prevalent in the mortuary chambers. 
The 6th-century and T’ang models are decorated on the exterior only, 
and vary in shape from a plain coffin-shaped box undecorated, or sometimes 
engraved with the animals of the four quarters, to an elaborate bier, such 
as is illustrated here (Plate 53, Fig. 2). The form of this sarcophagus is 
simple, but is greatly strengthened by the variety of the slope of the roof 
and the admirable proportions of the base, in the sides of which are sunk 
panels engraved with designs of apsaras among flowers; the main body 
of the sarcophagus is decorated with a floral design of great richness, and 
on either side stand two figures, a Buddhist monk and an attendant with a 
book-box, carved in the round. The style recalls a type of fresco, popular 
in T’ang and Ming times, in which the background was painted with 


1 See Stein Serindia, 1921, Vol. IV, Plate 56. 
2 For a discussion on Sarcophagi, see Laufer, Ostasiatische Zeitschrift, 1912-13, p. 318 
and ff. 


g2 


LEGACY OF THE HAN BAS-RELIEFS 


landscape designs and the figures modelled in relief in clay. The sarco- 
phagus bears the inscription ‘‘ made in the Great Sui dynasty’; this 
inscription Dr. Laufer has declared to be a forgery on the grounds of the 
use of the epithet “* great ’’ and claims to have met the forger! This use 
of the word “ great ’’ has been discussed above in connection with the 
Tuan Fang altar-piece, and I confess the letters show no signs of modern 
cutting. Sculpturally the date is well within the bounds of possibility. 
The figures of the weepers are quite as characteristically Sui as T‘ang, and 
the cutting of the eyes is not in the most common T‘ang style. The floral 
design is so free and bold that it must be of comparatively early date. If 
the inscription is a forgery, which I doubt, the sarcophagus may be 
confidently dated in the 7th century. The lid is possibly a remplacement. 
The design is considerably weaker than on the main portion, the 
cutting less sure. It may, however, be of contemporary workmanship 
and merely have belonged to another sarcophagus, 


BASES OF STATUES AND REVERSES OF STELES 


The remaining group in which the Han tradition is distinctly visible 
comprises the low reliefs to be found on the bases of statues and the 
incised design used on the reverses of steles, chiefly under the Northern 
régime. In these, as a rule, no trace of Indian influence is found, and the 
native tradition is the dominant one. The designs on bases are, as a 
rule, executed in low relief, those on the reverses of steles by plain incision, 
but both techniques are found in either case. It is often the case that 
these low reliefs are employed where the figures of donors are to be 
introduced. As an example of the first a stone pedestal of a Maitreya 
statue in the Pennsylvania University Museum, Philadelphia (Plate 54), 
will illustrate the type. This base, which is dated 524 A.D. in the sixth 
year of Cheng Kuan of the Wei dynasty, is decorated with reliefs on three 
sides, the inscription filling the fourth. The statue was set up by Ts‘ao 
Wen hsi, governor of Wei Hsien, whom we see on the right-hand face 
(Fig. c), processing in state to the temple, doubtless to dedicate the image. 
In his outstretched hands he carries a hill-censer, of a form associated 
with Han types ;! a magnificent umbrella is carried over him, a huge 
fan wafts the winds about him. In the rear a spirited little groom dressed 


1 This relief can, perhaps, be attested as evidence for the theory that many of the more 
florid of these bronze hill-censers are of a date posterior to the Han dynasty, a fact I have 
long suspected ; but we cannot tell that Ts‘ao was not using a precious old censer. 


93 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


in trousers tied beneath the knee holds a richly caparisoned charger in 
waiting ; the Han convention of representing the master larger than his 
servants here is reproduced. 

The corresponding relief represents Madam Ts‘ao attending the ceremony, 
the sole difference being that for the lady a palanquin waits, drawn by 
oxen. The remaining panel is symbolical ; a lion and lioness representing 
the contrast between the sexes flank a female figure, which, half emerging 
from a lotus base, holds on high an incense burner. The figure seems to 
represent Sthavara, goddess of the earth, who appeared to Sakyamuni 
during his struggle with Mara, the evil one, and encouraged him to victory. 
The reliefs are remarkable for their sensitive drawing and well-spaced 
designs and stand at a point midway between the Han reliefs and the 
famous scenes of court life in the Pin-yang grotto at Lung-mén of the 
T‘ang period. 

The type of design on the reverse of steles is illustrated by a stone in 
the same museum of the Eastern Wei dynasty (Plate 55), made at the 
monastery of Ch‘i Hs‘ien about the year 550 A.D. The drawing is character- 
ized by a simple natveté which is very pleasing. At the top is seen the 
miraculous birth of Buddha; the infant is just issuing from the sleeve 
of Maya, who stands beneath the sala tree. Below to the left is seen the 
Baptism. This ceremony was, according to legend, performed by the 
Nine Nagas or serpent kings; here, however, attendants are carrying out 
the rite, while a nine-headed serpent, in form like a Chinese dragon, 
looks on. To the right of this is the infant Buddha proclaiming his 
divinity to the world, while around may be seen the miraculous flowers 
and flashes of five-coloured light, which appeared at the Buddha’s birth. 
A further group represents the simultaneous birth of animals at Gautama’s 
nativity. The whole treatment of the scene is entirely non-Indian, and 
it is generally the case that entirely non-Indian designs were employed 
in the designs on the reverses of steles, while for the representation of the 
deities the Indian tradition was followed. This process was generally 
popular in the North, but designs are also to be found executed in the 
round. 


INCISED PICTURES 


It was the custom in China at all periods of her history to incise 
famous paintings on slabs of stone to preserve the design. These vary 
considerably in merit and many of them are of comparatively late date. 

1 Til, Chavannes, M. A., etc., 1909, Vol. II, Plates 170-75. 


94 


LEGACY OF THE HAN BAS-RELIEFS 


But a very beautiful stone is preserved in the Freer Collection, Wash- 
ington (Plate 61), which is doubly interesting because it seems one of 
the few stones which purport to reproduce a design of Wu Tao tzu, 
which represents a dated Sung impression of a then reputed master- 
piece. The figure represented is Kuan-yin, and the wind-swept 
garments and the very plastic modelling of the form seem to bear out 
the testimony of his painting. The inscription relating to the picture 
runs :—! 


4 


*, .. Recently I have acquired two pictures by Wu Tao Tzu of the 
T’ang dynasty. I gave instructions to have them copied on stone by 
artisans, and have written a laud at the side of the pictures to perpetuate 
the record of them. My desire is that all who see this picture and read 
my commendation of it should be spared the bitter experience of losing 
a father in youth. 

Hsiao Sheng, and year (A.D. 1095) Ch‘ing Ming (Easter day). 
_ Written by Chao Hung, of Tien Hsui district. 

Carved by Wei Ming, of Ch‘i Yang,” 


To the left is a paragraph in praise of Kuan Shih Yin, to the right an 
inscription recording its presentation to the Pao Ning temple by Hsii 
K‘ai hsi in 1663 A.D. 


THE WETZEL STELE 


One of the finest pieces of Buddhist sculpture that has ever left China, 
this stele was presented to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, by Hervey 
E, Wetzel (Plate 56). The front is carved with Buddhistic scenes in high 
relief and the most important donors in lower relief, while the back is 
decorated with the remainder of the donors in very low relief arranged in | 
horizontal bands, each being carved in exactly the style of the Han reliefs, 
In the central register of the front is seen Sakyamuni attended by Ananda 
and Kasyapa with Bodhisattvas and guardian kings in addition ; the lintel 
of the temple in which these figures are seated is adorned with a conven- 
tionalized lotus, amidst the petals of which are seen apsaras. Above is 
represented the conversation between Sakyamuni and Prabhutaratna ; 
and on either side are the Buddha in retreat in a cave before his enlighten- 
ment and the Buddha in meditation. Above that again are kneeling 
figures and an incense-burner. The lower part of the stele is occupied 


1 Bosch-Reitz, Catalogue of Early Chinese Pottery and Sculpture, New York, 1916, p. 70. 
95 H 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


with figures of the more important donors and the inscription. A feature 
of the stone is that each separate small piece is the gift of some particular 
donor, whose name appears beside it. 

It is in such steles as these that the lingering element of the Han pictorial 
reliefs is also to be traced. The carving of the deities resembles nothing 
so much as a section of the Lung-mén caves in miniature, but the figures 
of the donors are entirely in the native tradition, The stele which is 
dated 554 a.D., under the Western Wei dynasty, is exhaustively discussed 
in Chavannes’ Six monuments de la Sculpture. 

The particular characteristic of drapery so much used in the Western 
and Eastern Wei dynasties, in which the pleats of the skirt adopt a triangular 
form at the base, is here very noticeable. 


96 


CHAPTER X 


THE MINOR KINGDOMS 


North Han (952-978). Posterior Chou (896-963). 
Posterior T’ang (937-975). Wu Yiieh (894-978). Ssechuan (891-965). 
Nan-Ping (907-963). South Han (907-971). 


THE SUNG DYNASTY (960-1280) 


NORTHERN SUNG (960-1127) 


The forty-four years of anarchy! which followed the downfall of the 
T’ang dynasty are remarkable for the rise to power of the Khita1 Tartars, 
who ravaged the Northern part of China at will, a perpetual menace to the 
feeble subsidiary dynasties. It was the task of Tai-tsu, founder of the Sung 
dynasty (960-1280), to consolidate these minor dukedoms and repel the 
Tartars. This he and his successors were never quite able to effect, and 
China became once more a divided empire with the Khitai ruling in the 
North at Pekin and the native court at K‘ai-féng fu in Honan. It is from 
the Khitai that China became known to the Western world as Cathay. 
Fortunately the Khitai assumed the Chinese civilization and remained 
friendly to the native dynasty or the dismemberment of the Sung 
household would have occurred at an earlier date. 

The Neo-Confucianist doctrines, which had grown in favour towards 
the close of the T‘ang dynasty, found warm advocates in the first two 
emperors of the Sung dynasty. The conservative régime reached its 
zenith under the severe and impeccable ministry of Ssti-ma Kuang. But 
on his retirement in 1067 to write the history of China, his place was 
filled by a very different person, the social reformer, Wang-an-shih, whose 
humanitarian principles were detested alike by military and mandarins. 
The Emperor Hui-tsung, famous poet, painter, and philosopher, who 
adopted these principles, rashly decided to endeavour to suppress the 
Khitai, With this end in view he called in the services of the Nit-chih, a 
savage tribe living in the far North. His end accomplished, the Nii-chih 
turned on him, sacked K‘ai-féng fu and drove the Chinese to Hang-chow. 
The Confucianists rejoiced in the downfall of the humanitarian régime 
(1427) A.D.). 


1 Bronze work suffered a further attack during the reign of Shih-tsung of the Posterior 
Chou dynasty who melted down all the bronze images to make coins, declaring that Buddha, 
who in so many births had sacrificed himself to mankind, could not object to his images 
doing the same. 


97 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


Despite the disfavour into which Buddhism had fallen for a time, the 
creed was still widely popular; in particular, during the latter part of the 
Northern kingdom, the form known as Zen, a meditative philosophy 
practised by an elaborate intellectual game of question and answer, This 
creed had been originated in the Liang dynasty by the sage Bodhidarma,* 
but did not come to its full power till the Sung period. Zen Buddhism 
recognizes a divinity at the bottom of all things, and by introspection 
alone can man see how hollow the world is. It is mainly in the attempt 
to convey this spirit which underlies everything that Zen Buddhism 
exercised a practical influence on Sung art. 


“ The ground spider with many eyes ; the mole clothed in velvet ; 
The lucky golden spinner ; the grasshopper that sings and laughs and drinks 
And when winter comes folds his slender bones without a murmur,” 


all have their divinity ; 


** Seest thou the little winged fly smaller than a grain of sand ¢ 
It has a heart like thee ; a brain open to heaven and hell, 
Withinside wondrous and expansive ; its gates are not closed. 
I hope thine are not : hence it clothes itself in rich array : 
Hence thou art cloth’d with human beauty, O ! thou mortal man. 
Seek not thy heavenly father then beyond the skies.”’ 


These developments of philosophy tended to weaken the popularity of 
images, and the custom of hanging silk paintings of the gods over altars 
was, in all probability, chiefly popularized under the Sung emperors. But 
many statues still continued to be made, the favourite deity being Avalo- 
kitesvara, closely followed by Vaisravana and the sixteen Lohan. The best 
work of the period was done in wood, stone statuary not reaching the high 
standard of previous reigns. The colouring of the wooden figures by the 
gesso process was almost invariable, though small figures are met with, 
in which the pigment has been applied direct. The distinguishing feature 
of Sung sculpture is the flowing line and a tendency, at any rate in the later 
phases, towards a certain cloying sweetness, which detracts a little from 
their beauty. The poses of these later figures are always dignified, the 
lines of the drapery beautiful, but it cannot be denied that possibly their 
real merit lies in charm ; and charm is only superficial. Certain of these 
wooden figures are distinguished by a very definite archaistic sense of | 
restraint, and much of the nobility of T‘ang sculpture is visible in them. 


* M. Pelliot has however recently proved that the historical Bodhidarma was a compara- 
tively insignificant personage. 


98 


THE MINOR KINGDOMS 


It is these that I would assign to the Northern period of the Sung régime. 
Very few Sung wooden images are dated, but a figure, formerly in the 
possession of Messrs. Ton-ying, dated 1169 A.D.,! seems to stand at some- 
what of a transitional point between the restrained beauty of the Northern 
type and the soft loveliness of the Southern. It is from such softening that 
I would separate the nobler statues of the Northern Sung style. In these 
latter the eyebrows as a rule still fall straight to the lines of the nose, 
as in the majority of T‘ang images, never meet in the middle, a customary 
feature of the Southern type. 

The earliest of the figures here illustrated is possibly the statue of Avalo- 
kitesvara in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Plate 57, Fig. 2), and there 
ascribed to the 6th century. Apart from the question of so large a wooden 
figure surviving the iconoclastic persecution of 845 A.D., or of its remaining 
in so marvellous a condition—5oo years’ more wear makes a great difference 
to a wooden statue—I do not think it possible that the hanging streamers 
of the cloak could be so picturesquely treated at so early a date. With all 
their rhythmic beauty the 6th-century sculptors tended to stylize their 
rhythm, and the extreme grace of the line is totally out of keeping with 
6th-century work. The shape of the vase of flowers, too, which the 
figure holds in its hand, is too sophisticated, I think, to be earlier than Sung. 
A vase similar in form, though less slender and lacking the band of im- 
pressed ornament, is illustrated in Hetherington,? Plate 14, Fig.2. The 
statue is of most restrained beauty; the delicately-wrought tiara is a 
sensitive piece of work, and the economy of the jewellery and the sim- 
plicity of the drapery lend great dignity to the figure, but the face seems 
harsh in cutting and strange in type. I am inclined to consider it a clever 
restoration. 

To the same period belongs the statue in the Raphael Collection, London 
(Plate 57, Fig. 1). Though totally different in the treatment, there is the 
same severity in the lines, the same reserve, to which is added a spiritual 
enlishtenment in the expression, which is absent in the more mundane 
figure at Boston. In this figure the sculptor seems to have caught for an 
instant the infinite comparison of the divinity of mercy. Both these statues 
should be dated, in my opinion, from the 1roth-11th century. To the 
transitional period, that is to say, from the 11th-rath century, should 
belong the regal image of Avalokitesvara in the Sauphar Collection, Paris 


1 This figure was made in the North under the Tartar régime. This does not necessarily 
imply that all such figures were made in that part of China. 
® Hetherington. Early Ceramic Wares of China, 1922. 


99 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


(Plate 58). The deity is seated in the attitude of kingly repose. The body 
is superbly proportioned, the modelling of the rather massive limbs 
admirable, and the lines of the drapery, though picturesque, are treated 
with a broad sweep that is masterly. The face is beautiful and ‘notably 
masculine ; the cutting of the eyes follows T‘ang models. The absence 
of jewellery is accounted for by the fact that the tiara appears to have been 
removed, as does the pendant te the necklace. Though there is much 
that recalls T’ang art in this figure, it is aes, softer than either of the 
two preceding examples. 


SOUTHERN SUNG (1125-1280) 


In the new capital of Hang-chow developed a golden age of art and litera- 
ture. The Venetian period of Chinese history was an epoch of exquisite 
refinement. The 11th-century governor Su-tung-p‘o had perfected the 
canal system of the city, and every palace and garden hung on the edge 
of some sheet of water. 

“ Any one who desired to go a-pleasuring with the women or with a 
party of his own sex, hires one of these barges; and truly a trip on this 
lake is a much more charming recreation than can be enjoyed on land. 
For on the one side lies the city in its entire length, so that the spectators 
in barges can take in the whole prospect in its full beauty and grandeur, 
with its numberless palaces, temples, monasteries, and gardens, full of 
lofty trees sloping down to the shore.’’! | 

The most notable philosopher of the age was Chu-hsi. He was neither 
a pantheist nor a monotheist, but saw the universal soul mirrored in the 
individual soul. ‘‘ The eternal spirit which irradiates all creation is like 
the moon, shining at night. She is alone in the heavens, but when she 
sends forth her soft rays on river and lake, the reflection of her orb is 
seen everywhere. Yet no man can say that she is many; she is but 
one, <* 

Under the Southern Sung dynasty Buddhist sculpture undergoes a real 
softening, an assumption of weakness. Avalokitesvara, almost fpr the first 
time, seems definitely feminine. The figure in the Eumorfopoulos Collec- 
tion, London (Plate 59, frontispiece), is one of the most exquisite figures 
in Chinese art, but it falls perilously near the charge of over-refinement. 
The careless grace with which the drapery falls, the easy lines of the 

' Marco Polo (Cordier, ed.), 1903, Vol. II, p. 205. 
2 Le Gall, Le philosophe Tchou-hi, 1894, p. 33. 
100 


THE MINOR KINGDOMS 


cloak, the fold knotted at the wrist and falling in a free loop at the back, 
the elaborate head-dress supplement the softly-modelled body, the 
delicate hands and feet. The statue is a masterpiece. But in the image 
in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Plate 60), heaviness has supervened. 
It is still a noble statue, but the vitality has gone. The artist, in empha- 
sizing the maternal aspect of the divinity, has lost the lightness of touch 
which distinguishes the preceding figure. This figure may belong to the 
13th, one imagines, the Eumorfopoulos figure to the rath century; though 
it is always possible that the Boston figure is a less successful work of a 
sculptor of the earlier century. 


AVALOKITESVARA AND KUAN-YIN 


With these figures arises the question as to when Avalokitesvara may be 
identified with the feminine impersonation of Kuan-yin. The worship 
of Avalokitesvara reached China in the early stages of the Buddhist influx, 
The divinity has always been worshipped as the God of Mercy, but it is 
often claimed that a native Goddess of Mercy was worshipped in China 
prior to the introduction of Buddhism. There is no evidence for this. 
This goddess some have attempted to identify with Miao-shan, the 
heroine of a romantic novel of comparatively late date in which she, is 
represented as a persecuted Buddhist princess. Her worship was chiefly 
associated with a temple on the Chu-san Archipelago, where it seems 
probable that she was identified with a protective Goddess of Sailors, who 
had long been recognized as an important divinity. When the Buddhist 
priests took over this island in the roth century they seem to have identified 
the Goddess of Sailors with Tara, the sakti of Avalokitesvara. There 
are in existence 1oth-century woodcuts with invocations to Tara. There 
is, however, every reason to believe that the worship of Hariti was intro- 
duced into China and was flourishing there in the 7th century. This 
being so, it seems likely that she was identified as a manifestation of 
Avalokitesvara, but this does not seem to have changed the sex of the 
god. In truth, Buddhistic divinities are represented entirely sexlessly in 
China till the Sung period, when they begin to assume feminine pro- 
portions perhaps derived from Tantric sakti. It is unlikely that any 
sreat attempt at imputing the feminine sex to the divinity was made before 
the 8th century, when Pu K‘ung (719 A.D.) arrived at Ch‘ang-an and 
translated many of the Tantric sutras, and the worship of the Sakti or 
feminine energy of the deities became customary. 


1 Cf, the discussion on the Tuan Fang altar-piece, p. 82. 
IOI 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


DOWNFALL OF THE SUNG DYNASTY 


While in Hang-chow this golden age of literature and art held sway, the 
Mongols under Genghiz Khan had invaded the North and established a 
rapidly increasing kingdom. Finally, under his successor the great Kublai, 
the Sung dynasty was subdued and China became a Mongol Empire. 
An idyllic picture is given by Marco Polo of the last years of the Sung 
emperor, as told him by an old resident of Hang-chow.' The emperor 
lived in a palace, “ the roof of which was sustained by columns painted 
and wrought in gold and azure of the finest ; a ceiling wrought in gilded 
sculpture, whilst the walls were artfully painted with the stories of departed 
kings.’’ Outside were the deer parks where ‘‘ sometimes the king would 
set the girls a-coursing after the game with dogs and, when they were 
tired, they would hie to the groves that overhung the lakes, and, leaving 
their clothes there, they would come full naked and enter the water and 
swim about hither and thither, whilst it was the king’s delight to watch 
them; and then all would return home.” 


1 Marco Polo, 1903, Vol. II, pp. 206, 207. 
102 


CHAPTER XI 


THE YUAN DYNASTY (1280-1368) 
THE MING DYNASTY (1368-1644) 


The Yiian dynasty was never more than an oligarchical garrison to China, 
and China cast off the Mongol yoke without having been seriously affected 
by it. The most important change under the VYiian government was that 
Buddhism was the religion of all the officials. In all the preceding reigns 
Buddhism had been the popular religion, and the religion, very often, of 
the Emperor, but not of the officials or members of the court, though 
they would of course conform to the ceremonies for appearances sake. 
And Buddhism also controlled the education of the country under the 
Yiians. Kublai looked for a religion to influence his warlike followers 
and chose Lamaism as that creed; and it is the first time in Chinese 
history that the Lamaistic form of Buddhism is supreme in China. The 
Lamaistic form of Buddhism is a combination of demonolatry and mystical 
magic, with a stiffening of Mahayanist Buddhism. The doctrine of 
Kharma, a form of ethical punishment, appealed to the Eastern mind, 
always prone to fatalistic views. The gruesome divinities of the Lamaistic 
pantheon became exceedingly popular. 

The Lamas were lawless people ; immunity from punishment led them 
to commit every form of crime, and they especially condoned forms of 
sexual vice under the title of “‘ the concealed joys of entrancement,”’ 
Their power rapidly weakened the Mongol influence, and China was 
ripe for the revolution that Chu Yiian-chang, afterwards known as Hung 
Wu, successfully brought about. 


YUAN ART 


The Yiian dynasty saw the introduction into China of the Mohammedan 
element. No court was ever so cosmopolitan as Kublai’s, and it is to be 
remembered that his Chancellor of the Exchequer, whose system of 
paper currency was such a success, was a Persian. The motives of decora- 
tion, the forms of porcelain and bronze, the designs of metal-work, are 
tinged with the Mohammedan style. And the minor arts and painting 
were the chief products of the age. But there was a revival of sculpture. 
The philosophical religions of the Sung period, the Neo-Confuctanist 
elements, had been expelled into temporary retirement and Lamaistic 
Buddhism was the order of the day. The images were made under the 
influence of Tibetan monks, and the Nepalese tradition is very marked. 


103 H* 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


P‘agspa, the archbishop of the Tibetan Church, was engaged on building 
a golden tower at the bidding of Kublai, who was very favourable to the 
Lamaistic Church. Among the sculptors was a youth of seventeen from 
Nepal called Aniko, who by his personal charm soon became a favourite 
with P‘agspa and later with Kublai. Many Chinese sculptors learnt from 
him, the best-known being Liu Yiian, who made many images in dry lacquer, 
clay, and cast metal. His best known figure was in the Tai-hsi-kuo fen- 
wang ssii temple in Pekin and is apparently still there. Kublai created 
Aniko head of a department called the Fan-hsiang t‘o chu-ssu to super- 
intend the creation of Buddhistic images of the so-called Indian type—in 
reality Tibetan—and the general adornment of architecture. It is prob- 
ably to this period that the figure in the Sauphar Collection, Paris, belongs 
(Plate 62). The remnants of the Sung tradition are noticeable in the lines 
of the drapery, but there is a tendency towards the conventionalism, which 
we find so marked in the Ming period. There is considerable dignity 
about the figure, but it lacks any of the vitality of the Sung period. 
Rhythm is lapsing into convention. The rather commonplace elaboration 
of the head-dress is typically Tibetan in influence and is seen on many 
later figures. The best work of the Yiian sculptors seems to have been 
in the decoration reliefs on their architecture ; an admirable example is 
the fine Chu Yiian gateway.1 Both in the Sung and Yiian dynasties sets 
of Lohan figures were exceedingly popular. These figures are severe in 
countenance, the drapery forms simple. The worship of the Lohan was 
introduced into China? about the 8th century. Those of the Yiian dynasty 
are, as a rule, considerably inferior in workmanship to those of the preceding 
dynasty. 
THE MING DYNASTY (1368-1644) 


Hung-wu found himself in a position of considerable strength. Freed 
from the yoke of the Mongols, China entered eagerly on a revival of its 
former glories. Confucianism was restored in its most rigid form; 
Lamaism suffered a check and every man was concerned with the desire 
to recapture the glories of the T’ang and Sung epochs. In this they 
succeeded tolerably well; but Ming art never achieved the recapture of 
T‘ang spirit. In technique, in design, they often came very near the skill _ 
of their predecessors, but never in style did they approach the virility of 
the earlier arts. 

1 Til. Bushell, Chinese Art, Bk. I., Plate 24. . 

* Cf. a set in the Ostasiatische Museum, K6ln, Ill. Salmony, Die Chinesische Steinplastik, 
1922, Plates 64-67. 

104 


THE YUAN AND MING DYNASTIES 


Buddhist art in the Ming time has degenerated ; the poses have become 
conventional, the arrangement of the robe stereotyped. There is often 
great feeling for decoration, but the figures are, on the whole, merely 
agreeable. It is in the great variety of small Taoist and Confucian images 
that Ming sculpture finds its most individual field, and even here it is more 
an art of bijouterie than anything else. 

By far the finest sculpture of the dynasty is the series of animals that 
suard the Imperial tombs set up by Yung Lo in 1421.' Here is, indeed, a 
very semblable recollection of their former greatness (Plate 63). Carved 
in the same colossal style as the T‘ang animals, the double row of beasts 
are worthy successors to their predecessors. Lacking, perhaps, the extra- 
ordinary grandeur of their forebears they are very remarkable pieces of 
naturalistic sculpture. But never again does Ming sculpture catch even 
the relic of the former glory that these animals do. Sophistication and 
convention have set in, and Chinese sculpture must look to the early 
dynasties for the supreme achievement of its art. 


1 Bouillard de Vaudescal, ‘‘ Sépultures impériales des Ming,” Bulletin de l’Ecole Francaise 
d’Extréme Orient, 1920. 


105 








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APPENDIX I 


THE DISTRIBUTION OF CAVE- 
SCULPTURE IN CHINA 


(ON INFORMATION TRANSLATED FROM OMURA SEIGAI’S 
‘*CHINESE SCULPTURE’”’) 


The first rock sculpture known to have been completed was at Tun Huang 
in 365 A.D. by the priest Le Tsun, but it did not survive. In the collection 
of Mr. Yao of Kuei-an in Cheh kiang is a stone carved with two Buddhas, 
dated 399 A.D., which was removed from a cave in Ssechuan (ill. Plate 130). 
The principal cave series in China are at Yiin-kang (409-516 A.D.) in 
Honan, Tun-huang (from Wei-Sung) in Lung-mén (495-749) in Honan, 
and Kung-hsien (535-867 A.D.) in Honan, these dates representing the 
first and last inscriptions at these caves. In actual fact there is some 
Sung statuary at Lung-mén. Besides these at Liang-chou, Kansu province, 
Chu Meng-hsun, ruler of the Northern Liang Kingdom, died in 433 A.D. 
Some time before his death, noting that towns and temples stood only for 
a little while, and that the palaces of kings were in the end destroyed by 
fire, or, if gold and jewels were used in them, were one day rifled by thieves, 
he determined to build a more lasting memorial for himself and hollowed 
out a row of caves in a cliff twenty miles south of Liang-chou, and filled 
them with statues in stone and clay. At Li-ch‘eng near Chi-nan fu, Shan- 
tung, is the Dragon Cave with a Maitreya figure dated 537, and also the 
caves of the Hill of a Thousand Buddhas,! with figures of the Sui and early 
T‘ang periods, the Yu-han shan caves of the Sui period and the Buddha 
Ravine Cliff (S.E. of Lich‘eng), of the 6th century and a series of carvings 
from 759-837 A.D.’ 

At An-yang near Chang-te in Honan are groups dated 546, 589 onwards, 
and 646 A.D. Near Tai-yiian Fu in Shansi are a number of temples of 
the 6th century. In the province of Chih-li at Huang-shan are figures 
dated from 593 A.D. onwards, and at Hsiian Wu-shan in the same province 
are others dated from 620-771 A.D. and of ranging dates down to 1319. 
At Tzu-chou in that province are the Northern and Southern Echo Hall 
with images dated from 657-662, 686-725, 913-915. Sculptures in 
Shantung include the Kang-shan caves, north of Tson hsien (581 A.D.). 
The Cloud-gate Mountain and the Camel Hill at I-tu, Sui period and down 
to 873 A.D.—the Cloud-gate caves were repaired in the 9th century—and 


1 Til. Chavannes, M. A., etc., 1909, Plates 237 and 238. 
2 Til. Omura, Plates 664 and 665. 


107 


STUDY OF CHINESE SCULPTURE 


the Magic Rock Temple at Ch‘ang-ch‘ing with carvings of the T‘ang 
dynasty. In Ssechuan is a large series of caves. At Chien-chou are caves 
carved by order of Wen ti of the North Chou dynasty in 557 A.D., at the | 
stone Buddha Temple a figure dated 647 a.D., and a series from 765-780 
at the great Buddha Cliff. At Mien-chou is a series dated 648 onwards ; 
at Chiang-chin, Chia-ting Fu, and Chia Chiang hsien are figures of the 
T‘ang dynasty. 

At Kuang-yiian overlooking the Chia-ling river are figures from 725-884 
A.D. and others from the roth—-12th centuries. At Nan-chiang from 735- 
749, at Pa-chou from 735-888, at Fu-shun in the Lo-fu cave a Buddha 
dated 778, and other carvings from roth-mid-1ath centuries. At Tzu- 
chou a series from 839-891, at Ta-tsu from 895-898, and again from 
roth-13th centuries. At Chia-chou in Cheh kiang province is a Maitreya 
360 ft. high, dated 730 a.p.! Finally, at Fen-chou in Shensi is a series 
from 693 A.D. onwards. These are only a small proportion of what must 
exist still in China. 


' Til, Omura, Plate 767. 
108 


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APPENDIX II 


FORGERIES AND RESTORATIONS 


In these notes it is in nowise intended to discuss the questions arising 
from forged pieces of sculpture, but merely to suggest various types, 
which are to be guarded against. Primarily there is the complete forgery, 
which is not very common, in which either a design is invented or an old 
design has been copied and transferred to a new stone. The first type 
is most frequently found in the case of designs incised on the back of 
Buddhist steles. I have seen two or three examples of this and several 
photographs of others. These forged designs betray themselves by 
weakness of drawing, occasionally by divergences of style, which are 
incompatible with the period of sculpture, occasionally by faulty icono- 
sraphy. The cutting, too, sometimes shows no signs of age, though here 
the skilful forger is often very ingenious in wearing down the edges of 
the incisions. A more damning evidence is that it is sometimes the case 
that the front has been cut down at the sides. This will be obvious by 
examining the borders, as the flame-pattern so frequently used there will 
be found to be incomplete. On the contrary, the forged design on the back 
fills the space exactly to the edge. It is strange that so ingenious a crafts- 
man as the Chinese should fall into this trap. 

The second type is more difficult to detect; only the cutting and an 
occasional awkward angularity betray the fraud. Han reliefs are forged 
in this manner, as are lunettes of the later funerary art. 

Many inscriptions are forged. The services of a competent epigraphist 
are required in this case; for very skilful workmen are employed on this 
type of forgery (cf. Dr. Laufer, op. cit., p. 81). 

In the question of recarving more difficulty arises. Where a freshening 
of an old design has occurred, it is not a matter of great importance, if 
such cutting has preserved works of art which would otherwise be lost. 
I believe it is the case that certain of the Wu Liang reliefs have been 
reincised more than once, where perpetual taking of rubbings has worn 
away the design. But the habit of recarving heads or of adding new 
limbs, where others have been lost, is a much more detrimental form of 
restoration. This has been done frequently in regard to Buddhist steles and 
is a policy strongly to be deprecated. I have seen folds of robes reincised, 
chains recarved, faces, arms, and feet restored. It is necessary to be on 
one’s guard against Chinese sculpture, for the forgeries are many, and 
nothing could be easier than to forge a provincial Buddhist work of art. 


109 





BIBLIOGRAPHY 


In addition to the works mentioned below I have read the notices of 
Chinese sculpture which have appeared from time to time in the Bulletins 
of the American Museums, chiefly in those of the Metropolitan Museum, 
New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Pennsylvania 
University Museum, Philadelphia. Various articles and references given 
in footnotes are not included in this list. 


Anesaki, M. Buddhist Art. Boston, 1915. 

Asiatische Monumentalplastik. Leipzig, 1922. Orbis pictus series. 

Boerschmann. Architektur und Kulturstudien in China. Zeitschrift f, Ethnologie, 1910. 
Bosch-Reitz, S. Catalogue of Early Chinese Pottery and Sculpture. New York, 1916. 
Bushell, S. Chinese Art. 2 vols. London, 1904. 

Burchardt, O. Chinesische Grabkeramik. Leipzig, 1922. 

Chang, M. Les Tombeaux de Liang. Shanghai, 1912. 

Chavannes, E. Mission Archéologique dans la Chine Septentrionale. 4 vols. Paris, 1909 


Six Monuments. Brussels, 1913. La Sculpture sur Pierre en Chine dans les Temps des 
Deux Han. Paris, 1893. 


Coburn, F. W. Chinese Stone Sculpture at Boston. Burlington Magazine. Vol. XX. 


Cohn, W. Zur Koreanischen Kunst (the Sok-ku-lam cloister) Ostasiatische Zeitschrift, 
Vol. VII, p. 161. 


Combaz. Sépultures impériales de la Chine. Brussels, 1907. 
Coomaraswamy, A. On Indian Artin China. Calcutta, 1912. 
Chinesische Kleinplastik. Leipzig, 1922. Orbis pictus series. 

Eliot, Sir C. Hinduism and Buddhism. 2 vols. London, 1922. 
Fenollosa, E. F. Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art. 1913. 2 vols. 
Ferguson, J.C. Outlines of Chinese Art. Chicago, 1914. 


Foucher, A. Etude sur l’Iconographie Bouddhique de l’Inde. Paris, 1900 and 1905. 


L’Art Gréco-Bouddhique de Gandhara. Paris, 1905. Les Débuts de l’Art Bouddhique. 
Paris, 1911. 


Focillon, H. L’Art Bouddhique. Paris, 1921. 


Goloubew, V. Notes sur quelques Sculptures Chinoises. Ostasiatische Zeitschrift, 
Vol. IV, 1914, p. 326. 


Granet, M. La Religion des Chinois. Paris, 1922. 

Grousset, R. Histoire de l’Asie. 3 vols. Paris, 1922. 

Glaser, C. Die Kunst Ostasiens. Leipzig, 1913. 

Getty, A. The Gods of Northern Buddhism. Oxford, 1914. 

De Groot, J. J. M. The Religious System of China. 5 vols. Leyden (1892-1907). 


Griinwedel, A. Buddhist Art. London, 1901. Alt-Buddhistische Kultstatten in Chines- 
isch-Turkestan. Berlin, 1912. 


Hamada. Greco-Indian influence upon Far-Eastern Art. Kokka, Nos. 188-93. 
Tit 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Havell. Indian Sculpture and Painting. London, 1908. A Handbook of Indian Art. 
London, 1920. 


Hirth, F. Uber fremde Einfliisse in der Chinesischen Kunst. 18096. 
Pope-Hennesey, U. Early Chinese Jades. London, 1923. 


Ito,C. The Cave Temple at Yiin-kang, China. Kokka, Nos. 197 and 198. Stone Column 
and Lion of Hsiao. Kokka, No. 217. 

Kiimmel, O. Die Kunst Ostasiens. Berlin, 1921. 

Laufer, B. A Chinese Madonna. Chicago, 1912. Chinese Grave-sculptures of the Han 
Period. Paris,1911. Zur Kulturhistorischen Stellung der Chinesischen Provinz Shansi. 
Anthropos, 1910. Jade. Chicago, 1912. Early Han Pottery. New York, 1909. Chinese 
Armour. Chicago, 1914. A New Han Bas-relief. Open Court. June, 1913. Six New 
Han Reliefs. Ostasiatische Zeitschrift. 


Lecog, A. von. Chotscho. Berlin, 1913. Spatantike in Mittel-Asien. Berlin, 1922. 
Miinsterberg, O. Chinesische Kunsteschichte. 2 vols. Esslingen, 1910 and 1912. 
Musée Guimet. Bulletin Archéologique, 1921. Mission Chavannes, Ségalen, etc. 
Okakura. Ideals of the East. London, 1904. 

Ollone. La Mission d’O. in 1909. 

Paléologue, M. L’Art Chinois. Paris, 1887. 

Perzynski, F. Von Chinas Géttern. Munich, 1921. 

Petrucci,R. Sur l’Archéologie de l’Extréme Orient. Brussels, r910. L’Art Bouddhique 
de l’Extreme Orient d’aprés les Découvertes Récentes. Gazette des Beaux Arts, 
4me série, VI, p. 193, 1911. 

Pier. Temple Treasures of Japan. New York, 1914. 

Raphael, O. A New Figure in the British Museum. Burlington Magazine, Vol. XXXVII, 

. 263. 
Rane Greeks and Iranians in S. Russia. Oxford, 1922. 


Salmony, A. Die Chinesische Steinplastik. Berlin, 1922. Europa-Ostasiens. Berlin, 1922. 
Smith, V. A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon. Oxford, 1911. 

Shimbi Shoin. Selected Masterpieces. Vols. XIII and XIV. 1916, Tokio. 

Stein, Sir A. Ruins of Desert Cathay. London, 1912. Serindia. 4 vols. Oxford, 1921. 


Tajima. Selected Relics. 21 vols. Tokio, 1899. Toyei Shuko. 3 vols. Tokio, 1909. 
Collection of Prince Yi. 2 vols. Seoul, 1918. 


Tei Sekino. Stone Mortuary Shrines under the Latter Han Dynasty. Kokka, Nos. 225-33. 

Tizac, A. de. Les Animaux dans l’Art Chinois. Paris, 1923. 

Tschepe, A. Histoire du Royaume de Ou (1122-473 B.c.). Shanghai, 1896. 

Torii, R. The Ancient City of Shang-ching. Kokka, No. 249. Relics of the Earlier 
Han Dynasty. Kokka, 235-245. 

Watters, T. The Eighteen Lohan of the Chinese Buddhist Temples. Shanghai, 1899. 

With, K. Chinesische Grabschnitte. Leipzig, 1922. Buddhistische Plastik in Japan. 
Berlin, 1920. 

Waley, A. Zen Buddhism. Chinese Painting. London, 1923. 

Yetts, W. P. Symbolism in Chinese Art. London, 1912. 


Ita 


INDEX 


Ajanta, 53, 70, 71 

Amida, 38, 40, 47) 64, 65, 66, 68, 71-74, 76, 78, 80, 
82, 84 

Ananda, 51, 53, 57, 59, 71, 84, 95 

Anau, 7 

Aniko, 104 

Apsara, 48, 83-85, 91, 92 

Asoka, 36 % 

Avalokitesvara, 38, 46, 47, 58, 62-66, 70, 72, 79-83 
85, 98-100 


Bas-relief, 22, 23, 28, 90-93 

Bodhisattva, 38, 44, 46, 47) 67, 72-76, 81-83, 92-95 

Bone, 6, 9 

Bronze, 4, 5, 10, 14-16, 19, 27, 29, 31, 35 36, 39, 42, 
51, 56, 58, 64, 66, 79-81 

Buddhism, 3, 4, 20, 25, 35-38, 55, 69, 103 


Calendar, 76 
Chambers (mortuary), 22 
Ch‘ang-an, 19, 77, 101 
Ch‘ang ch‘ien, 20 
Ch‘in, 14, 18-20 
Ch‘u, 11, 12, 14, 18, 23, 40 
Clay, 5, 6, 13, 14 
Collections : 
Boston, 50, 65, 73, 74, 78, 81, 83, 84, 91, 95, 
99-IOI 
Cleveland, 59, 71 
Eumorfopoulos, 15, 51, 68, 100, Io 
Freer, 30, 50, 59, 71, 83, 86, 91, 95 
Havemeyer, 65, 66 
Hayasaki, 68 
Kuroda, 60, 61 
Louvre, 71, 84 
Metropolitan Museum, New York, 3, 46, 51, 52, 
58, 71, 75; 85-86, 90-91 
Minneapolis, 66 
Peytel, 59, 80 
Philadelphia, 3, 52, 64, 73, 74, 87, 88, 93 
Raphael, 80, 99 
Rutherston, 81, 83 
Sauphar, 99, 104 
Stoclet, 76, 79-81 
Sumitomo, 13, 17 
Tuan fang, 68, 79, 81, 93 
Winkworth, 71, 76 
Winthrop, 59 
Confucianism, 13, 55, 69, 104-105 
Confucianism (neo-), 75, 97 
Confucius, 10, 12, 18 


Fresco, 22, 23 


Gandhara, 37-39, 47 
Genghiz Khan, 101 
Gesso, 4, 5, 23-24 
Gilding, 4, 79, 80 
Gupta, 38-39, 46, 71 


Halo, 52 
Hariti, 82 


113 


Hiao t‘ang shan, 90 
Hinayana, 37 

Ho k‘iu ping, 20, 29, 30 
Honan, 18 

Hs‘iung-nu, 18, 20, 30 


Iron, 5, 75 
Ivory, 6, 8 


Jade, 4, 6, 9, 10, 14, 15, 19, 25, 28, 29 


Kasyapa, 51, 53, 54, 57) 84,95 
Kanishka, 37 


Kanshitsu, 6 
Kansu, 10 
Khotan, 56 
Kublai, 102-104 
Ku k‘ai chih, 6 
Kung-hsien, 43, 63 


Lacquer, 6, 76 

Lamaism, 103 

Lao-tzii, 12, 60, 62 

Li ti-mao, 24 

Lohan, 104 

Lo-yang, 18, 19, 28, 44, 47 

Lung-mén, 43, 59, 63, 79; 84, 86, 94, 96 


Mahasthanaprapta, 82 

Mahayana, 37, 38, 103 

Maitreya, 38, 44, 50, 58, 64, 79, 80, 93 
Manjusri, 38, 51, 72, 82 

Marble, 4, 16 

Marco Polo, 102 

Menander, 36, 37 

Ming-ch‘i, 13, 14 

Ming-huang, 72, 73 


Nagas, 94 
Nanking, 6, 55 


Palaces, 22, 27 

Pheenix, 31 

Pigment, 4, 5, 52, 59, 64, 73, 76 
Pillars, 22, 28 

Pin yang, 70, 94 

Pottery, 13, 25, 27 
Prabhutaratna, 95 


Sakyamuni, 35, 48, 51, 53, 57, 68, 74, 79, 92, 95, 94, 95 
Samantabhadra, 51 


Sarcophagi, 22, 81, 92, 93 
Sassania, 89-91 

Scythian, 15, 30 

Sharito, 83 

Shi-king, 8 

Straw, 13 

Stone, 4, 8, 13, 22 
Sui-tsung, 24 


Tai ku‘ei, 6, 55, 56 
Tai yung, 56 

Tantric, ror 

Taoism, 3, 12, 13, 55, 60, 69, 75, 105 
' Tao t‘ieh, 10, 90 

Tara, 101 

Terra-cotta, 4, 5, 25 
Tien Ts‘un, 12, 60, 61 
Tiger, 16, 17, 30, 36 
To pao, 79 

T‘opas, 42, 44 

Tsao chungta, 66 
Tun-huang, 37, 43 
Turfan, 30, 37, 39 
Turkestan, 7 


Vairocana, 80 
Vaisravana, 72, 98 
Vajrapani, 91 


The Mayfiower Press, Plymouth. 


INDEX 














Vaults, 22 ss 
Vimalakirti, 6, 55 


Wei Tartars, 14, 24, 25, 42-49, 54, 65, 68, 71, 79, 85,86 
Wood, 5 nae 

Wu liany, 22, 23 eas 
Wu tao tzu, 66, 72, 85, 95 | 


Yang, 9 

Yin, 9 

Yin (city), 9 

Yu, 9 ‘ 
Yiieh-chih, 20, 21, 26, 31, 36, 37,39, 40 
Yiin-kang, 43-47, 50-52, 86 


Zen, 98 
















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PLATE I. Bronze vessel with rams’ heads, Chou dynasty, H. 17 in. 
Eumorfopoulos Collection, London. 





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PLATE II, Fig. 1.—Marble Tiger’s head. Chou dynasty (¢). H,. 34 in.; L. 5 in.; W. 5 in. 
Eumorfopoulos Collection, London. 


Fig. 2.—Detail from bronze drum. Chou dynasty (¢). Fig. 3—Detail from bronze vessel. Chou Dynasty. 
Sumitomo Collection, Osaka. Sumitomo Collection, Osaka. 





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PLATE III. Fig. 1.—Bas-relief with design of chariots. Eastern Han dynasty. H. 28 in.; W. 42 in. 
Louvre, Paris. 


Fig. 2.—Bas-relief with historical scene. Eastern Han dynasty. H. 314 in.; W. 50 in. 
Metropolitan Museum, New York. 





PLATE IV. Figs. 1 and 2.—Stone figures from a tomb at Teng-feng, Honan. Eastern Han dynasty. H. about 66 in. 
(Photographs by permission of Dr. Osvald Sirén. 


Fig. 3.—Terra-cotta figurine. Handynasty. H. 32 in. ; 
Rutherston Collection, Bradford. 


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PLATE VIII. Fig. 1.—Bronze leopard. Eastern Han dynasty. H. 4 in. 
Stoclet Collection, Brussels. 


Fig. 2.Jade dog with bird on back, Western Han dynasty (¢). H.5 in. 
Rutherston Collection, Bradford. 


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PLATE IX. Fig. 1.—Detail of jade axe-head. Eastern Han dynasty. W. 64 in. 
Eumorfopoulos Collection, London. 


Fig. 2.—Bronze furniture foot (one side). Eastern Han dynasty. H. 4 in. ; 
Stoclet Collecticn, Brussels. 


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PLATE XIII. Avalokitesvara; stone statue from the Yiin-kang caves. H.573 in. 
Metropolitan Museum, New York. 








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PLATE XIV. Fig. 1.—Buddha meeting the sick man. 
Fig. 2.—The archery contest. Reliefs from the Ytin-kang caves. 








PLATE XV. Fig. 1.—Stone figure of Maitreya. Wei Tartar dynasty, c.525 A.D. H. 283 in.; W.93 in. 
Metropolitan Museum, New York. 


Fig. 2.—The departure of Buddha from the city. Relief from the Ytir-xang caves. 


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PLATE XVI. Fig.1.—Stone figure of Bodhisattva Maitreya. Fig. 2,Stone figure of Maitreya. 


Wei Tartar dynasty; c.500 A.D. H. 76 in. Wei Tartar dynasty; dated 516 A.D. H, 110 in. 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Pennsylvania University Museum, Philadelphia. 








PLATE XVII. Stone figure of a Bodhisattva. Wei Tartar dynasty ; mid-6th century. H. 37 in. 
Eumorfopoulos Collection, London. 








PLATE XVIII. Stone votive stele. Wei Tartar dynasty; dated 534 A.D. H. 62 in.; W. 38 in. 
Metropolitan Museum, New York. 





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‘ itesvara. Six dynasties, Southern (¢); 6th century. H,13in. Base, 71in. x 6 in. 
PLATE XX. Stone figure of Avalokitesv ix dy Bee cue edison 





PLATE XXI. Marble votive stele with Buddhistic figures. Six dynasties, Southern, dated 559 A.D. H. 243 in.; W. 14 in. 
Greville L. Winthrop Collection, New York. 


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PLATE XXII. Fig. 1.—The Buddha preaching. H. 48 in.; W. 132 in. 


Fig. 2.—The Western Paradise. H.62in.; W. 135 in. Stone reliefs. Six dynasties, Southern (¢), 2nd half of 6th century. 
Freer Collection, Washington. 





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Stone figure of a Bodhisattva. 


Six dynasties, Northern, 2nd half of 6th century. H.32.5in 
Freer Collection, Washington. 


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PLATE XXV. Stone figure of Maitreya. Six dynasties, Northern, 2nd half of 6th century. H.46in. W. of base, 29 in. 
Freer Collection, Washington. 


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PLATE XXVI. Stone votive stele. Six dynasties, Northern, dated 551 a.D. H.3g9in.; W.2o0in.; D. 11 in. 
Pennsylvania University Museum, Philadelphia. 








PLATE XXVII. Stone figure of Avalokitesvara. Six dynasties, Northern,c. 570 A.D. H, 27 in. 
Havemeyer Collection, New York, 








PLATE XXVIII. Stone figure of Avalokitesvara. Six dynasties, Northern; c.5704.D. H.7ft.11in, 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 


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PLATE XXIX. Terra-cotta relief; Sui dynasty (¢). H. 24 in. W.15 in. 
Eumorfopoulos Collection, London. 








PLATE XXX. Fig. 1.—Stone figure of Fig. 2.—Stone figure of Avalokitesvara. T‘ang dynasty ; 
Avalokitesvara. T‘ang dynasty ; 7th century. H, 39 in. 
7th century. H. 75% in. Louvre, Paris. 
Metropolitan Museum, New York. 


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PLATE XXXI. Fig.1. Stone figure of Avalokitesvara. T‘ang dynasty; 7th century. H. 16 in. 
Winkworth Collection, London, 


Fig. 2.—Marble figure of Amida. T‘ang dynasty; 7th century. H. 26 in. 
Cleveland Museum, Ohio. 





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PLATE XXXIII. Stone figures of two Bodhisattvas. T‘ang dynasty; 8th century. H. (a) q4ft.qin.; (b) 4ft.6in. ~ 
Pennsylvania University Museum, Philadelphia. 








PLATE XXXIV. Stone figure of a Bodhisattva. T‘ang dynasty; 8th-oth century. H. 22} in. 
Greville L. Winthrop Collection, New York. 


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H. 38 in. 
Peters Collection, New York. 


; 8th-oth century. 


Marble figure of Amida. T‘ang dynasty 


PLATE XXXV. 








PLATE XXXVI. Wooden pillar with four Bodhisattvas. T‘ang dynasty; late 9th century (¢). H.54 in. 
Metropolitan Museum, New York. 


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PLATE XXXVII. Lacquered wood figure of Amida. T‘ang dynasty; 8th-gthcentury. H.23in. _ 
Stoclet Collection, Brussels. 





PLATE XXXVIII. Fig. 1.—Semi-Taoist divinity in stone. Fig. 2.—Stone figure of a hare, symbolical of an hour of the day. 
T‘ang dynasty. H. 114 in. T‘ang dynasty. H.g in. 
Author's Collection, London. Winkworth Collection, London. 


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PLATE XXXIX. Fig. 1.—Bronze statuette of Fig. 2.—Bronze group of Sakyamuni and Prabhutaratna. 
Avalokitesvara. Wei Tartar dynasty, dated 516 A.D, Wei Tartar dynasty, dated 519 A.D. H. gin. 
H. toin. Stoclet Collection, Brussels. 
Stoclet Collection, Brussels, 





PLATE XL, Fig. 1.—Bronze group of Sakyamuni and Prabhutaratna. Wei Tartar dynasty; dated 518 A.D. H.41n. 
Peytel Collection, Paris. 


Fig, 2.—Bronze figure of Amida. Wei Tartar dynasty, c.550 A.D. H. 4 in. 
Stoclet Collection, Brussels. 





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Fig. 1.—Bronze figure of Avalokitesvara, 
Sui dynasty. H. 8 in. 
Stoclet Collection, Brussels, 





Fig. 2.—Bronze figure of Avalokitesvara. T‘ang dynasty ; 
7th century. (Northern Ch‘itype.) H. 4g in. 
Raphael Collection, London. 





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PLATE XLII (a). The Tuan Fang altar-piece. 


Sui dynasty, dated 593 A.D. H. of Buddha, 74 in.; attendant figures, 7 in. 
Buddha’s pedestal, 7 in. ; halo, 7 in. ; 


H. of canopy, 324 in. H, of platform, 6% in. Upper platform, Ir} in, sq. 
Lower platform, 134 in. sq. 


Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 


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PLATE XLII (6). 


Two attendant Bodhisattvas (from the preceding altar-piece). H, 9? in. : 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 


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PLATE XLIII. Accessories from the Tuan Fang altar-piece. H. Apsara, 53 in.; Sharito, 44 in.; Lions, 33°; and 314 in. 
Guardian kings, 4} in. 


Rutherston Collection, Bradford. 


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PLATEXLIV. Fig. 1.—Bronze figure of Avalokitesvara. Fig. 2.—Bronze figure of Sakyamuni. 
T‘ang dynasty. H. 17} in. T‘ang dynasty. H. 6 in. : 
Metropolitan Museum, New York. Eumorfopoulos Collection, London. 


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PLATE XLV. Fig. 1,—Stone pheenix from the Ytin-kang caves, Wei Tartar dynasty; 5th century. 


Fig, 2,—Stone winged lion from the tomb of Hsiao an Si dynasties, Southern, dated 518 a.p. (Liang dynasty). 
olossal, 
Photograph of the Mission Segalen. (By kind permission of the Musée Guimet.) 





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PLATE XLVII, Stone slabs with figures of horses from the Mausoleum of Tai tsung, founder of the T‘ang dynasty. 
(a) H. 68 in.; W. 813 in.; D.17in. (6) H. 654in.; W. 814 in.; D. 17 in. 
Pennsylvania University Museum, Philadelphia. 


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PLATE XLIX. Fig.1.—Bronze lion. T‘ang dynasty. H. 34 in. 
Eumorfopoulos Collection, London. 
Fig. 2,—Stone figure of a lion. T‘ang dynasty. Fig. 3,—Stone tiger devouring a hare. T‘ang dynasty. 
H. 11 in, : H, toin, ; 
Louvre, Paris. Louvre, Paris. 








PLATE L.—Marble Lion. T‘ang dynasty. H. 8 in. 
Eumorfopoulos Collection, London. 








PLATE LI. Tomb doorway. Wei Tartar dynasty, 6th century. Lunette: H. 30in,; W. 68 in. ; 
Jambs: H, 60 in. W. 8in.; D. 8 in. 


Metropolitan Museum, New York. 


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PLATE LII. Tomb doorway, T‘ang dynasty. H.60in.; W.38in. — 
Metropolitan Museum, New York. 


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PLATE LIII. Fig. 1.—Lunette from a tomb doorway ; Maitreya’s Paradise. 9th-1oth century. H.23in.; W. about 3ft. 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 
Fig. 2.—Sarcophagus, Sui dynasty. H.12in.; L.18in.; D.1o0in. k 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 











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PLATE LV. Reverse of a votive stele. Wei Tartar dynasty, c.550A.D. H.4ft.3in.; W. 2 ft. 7 in. 
Pennsylvania University Museum, Philadelphia. 





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PLATE LVI. Votive stele, known as the Wetzel stele. Western Wei dynasty; dated 554 a.D. H.o94in.; W. 35 in. 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 








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Museum of Fine Arts, 


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Sung dynasty. 


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London. 


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Raphael Collection, 


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Northern Sung dynasty. 


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PLATE LVIII. Wooden figure of Kuan-yin. Northern Sung dynasty. H. 78 in. 
Sauphar Collection, Paris. 








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PLATE LX 








PLATE LXI. Incised slab with figure of Kuan-yin, Sung dynasty, dated 1095 A.D. 204 in. sq. 
Freer Collection, Washington. 





PLATE LXII. Wooden figure of Kuan-yin. Ytian dynasty. H. 74 in. 
Sauphar Collection, Paris. 








PLATE LXIII. Figures from the Ming tombs near Peking. Colossal. 








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